Under the Sea
by Sea Queen
Summary: Yugi is a merboy who is captured by fishermen and brought to Domino Aquarium. Yami doesn’t believe in mermaids, but he wants to beilieve in this one. YYY
1. Captured

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the things/characters associated with it.

Sum: Yugi is a merboy who is captured by fishermen and brought to Domino Aquarium. Yami doesn't believe in mermaids, but he wants to beilieve in this one. YYY

A/N: Hello peoples! This is my second YGO fanfic and I really hope that you like it. I don't really write too many chaptered storied because I don't really have time to write and update regularly. I'll try to get most if not all chapters written before I post this one so the chapters should be coming out regularly.

The next chapter will be out next Sunday!

oooooooChapter 1ooooooo

Yuugi was swimming as fast as he could, but he just couldn't get away. There was no escaping the evil that was out to get him. The bull shark was gaining on him like a bullet. Why, oh why did he have to be so small and weak? Other merboys his age could probably out-swim this shark, but to Yuugi that task was impossible.

Yuugi pounded the water with his blue tail and wiped his blonde bangs out of his violet eyes. He got an extra burst of speed, but only for a while. Yuugi was already tired by his earlier swimming and he just didn't have the energy to go on anymore…

Closing his eyes, Yuugi felt the last of his strength leave him. Soon after he felt excruciating pain in his lower half and knew that the bull of the Ocean had him. There was nothing that the amethyst-eyed merboy could do.

The shark released him, letting him fall a few metres before diving in for another attack. Before he could land his finishing blow, he felt himself being trapped by something.

The something wound its way around both Yuugi and the shark. They were both tangled in the unknown enemy's clutches. The shark was panicking by now, trying to free himself from the beast that had him. However, to the shark's misery, struggling only strengthened the hold and soon the feared fish was in the worst possible position.

Yuugi looked at his now-trapped preditor. It saddened him greatly to see the gorgeous creature so miserable.

The beast that had them both did not let Yuugi dwell on the shark's misery for much longer, it wanted to claim its two prizes and pull them to the surface.

Soon Yuugi gasped at the sudden change of light and huge supply of air. He was at the surface!

In his pain and fatigue induced delirium Yuugi didn't register that being on the surface meant being seen by humans. His family had warned him about humans and their greed, but at this moment all Yuugi could think about was the pain he was in.

Yuugi felt himself slam against something that was softer than coral, but still hard.

"What'd we got today, boys?"

"We get a shark, cap."

"And what appears to be—sweet Lady Ocean! It's one of 'em mermaids!"

"Well I'll be! But this one's a guy…"

"It don't matter; it's still worth plenty!"

Yuugi had no idea where he was or what those people were talking about. All he cared about was sleep. Good old, comforting sleep…so good…now if only these idiots would shut up and let him sleep…

"What we gonna do with 'im?"

"We'll sell him to Domino Aquarium; they'll pay plenty."

Those were the last meaningless words that the tri-colour haired boy heard before his vision darkened and he lost consciousness.

ooo

When Yuugi came to, he had no idea where he was. He was lying on the floor of some underwater cave with salty water all around. Yet Yuugi knew that the salty water did not belong to his beloved Ocean; it was a bit saltier and had another element in it that Yuugi had never come across before.

'Where am I? What is this place and how did I get here?'

The last thing he remembered was being chased by a shark, but after that he drew a blank. Looking around, Yuugi noticed that there was something artificial about the place he was in; the cave was made of something that looked like stone, but it was softer and smoother.

Yuugi had a long list of unanswered questions and no one to ask. Where was everyone? Was there even anyone in this artificial place? How did he get there in the first place? Would anyone find him (or even bother looking for that matter)?

More and more questions flooded poor little Yuugi's mind and none of them brought answers with them.

"Might as well look around…" Yuugi said to himself, shivering as his angelic voice echoed off the fake stone walls.

Yuugi sat up and was about to start swimming when he felt tremendous pain in his tail. That's when he was painfully reminded that the shark had gotten a good bite in, before…_something_ had happened. Yuugi still couldn't remember what that something was, but he chose to ignore it for now. It would come back to him eventually.

The small, pale merboy tried to get up again, more slowly this time. He was still in pain, but it was overruled by his curiosity of what was outside the cave.

Yuugi swam around wondering about the various artificial plants, corals and rocks that had been placed all around the sandy floor. This gave Yuugi a feeling of being back home, but there was definitely something off; something that gave Yuugi a bad feeling.

Before he could ponder the feeling more, he crashed into something. Yuugi stumbled backwards and shook his main of tri-coloured hair to get rid of the dizziness. He looked up, but didn't see any sort of obstacle anywhere. This gave the young merboy the creeps and he took off in another direction.

He hadn't been swimming for too long before he crashed into something again. This time, however, Yuugi didn't flee. Instead, he edged forward a tad and stretched out his hand. His hand hadn't even straightened out completely before it hit an invisible barrier.

Yuugi pressed against it harder, but it wouldn't budge. The barrier was cold and hard and Yuugi could somehow see his own reflection in it. The reflection wasn't very clear, but it was still there.

Deciding that he wanted to get past that barrier, Yuugi started swimming up. All through his swimming he kept a hand on the cool smooth surface of the barrier.

Yuugi swam up about ten metres and stopped. He was just at the surface of the water!

Swallowing around a rather large lump in his throat, he bravely peeked out from under the safety of the water. He was hit with an odd, but slightly familiar blast of oxygen reminding him of the happenings after the shark-incident. He remembered the monster that had captured both him and the shark and he remembered being pulled up form his salty home. Most of all he remembered the humans whose boat he had landed in.

Suddenly everything made sense to the small boy and he realised that the humans had taken him to their world and had stuck him into some fake ocean with invisible walls. Yuugi's breathing got harder and faster, but still it felt like he was getting no oxygen into his lungs. His vision was blackening at the edges form the lack of air in his lungs, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't breathe.

Yuugi felt himself falling, but before his head went under, something—or someone—grabbed his arm and pulled him back up.

"It's alright, boy, I got you. No need to worry; just breathe." The voice was soothing and Yuugi found himself leaning into the comforting embrace of the stranger. "That's it, just take a deep breath and let it out slowly…"

Yuugi was breathing normally now and he was starting to come around again. He wearily opened his eyes and looked into the face of the stranger that had helped him.

oooooooChapter 1ooooooo


	2. No Longer a Stranger

Disclaimer: I still don't own YGO.

A/N: Hello again and thanks for the reviews! I really enjoy hearing what you think about my story! Please keep reviewing and making me happy enough to update!

Yami appears for the first time in this chapter and there's quite a bit of background information on him, so I'm sorry if it bores anyone. His last name is actually Egyptian just so you know.

This chapter is twice as long as the first one and the next one should be even longer since Yami's taking Melanie to the Aquarium and he finally meets Yuugi.

oooooooChapter 2ooooooo

Yuugi looked up into the worried face of the stranger that had helped him breathe.

"Are you alright, my boy?" Yuugi nodded examining the worn and wrinkled face of the man who was holding him up over the edge of the pool. The man gave a slight chuckle as he noted Yuugi's eyes gazing at him intensely. "You gave me quite a fright there, lad. I'm glad you're ok now."

Yuugi looked into the smiling eyes of the old man before him and realised that he had yet to thank the man for his help. Yuugi was about to open his mouth, but the old man got there first.

"I'm Sugoroku Motou, by the way. What's your name, young man?"

"I-" Yuugi cleared his throat as his voice was hoarse form not using it for a while. "I'm Yuugi and arigatou gozamaisu for your help Motou-san." Yuugi gave a slight bow to the man.

Sugoroku was shocked at how ambrosial the merboy's voice sounded; it seemed that his voice hadn't gained any of the gruffness that teenage boys usually had. Maybe his voice hadn't broken yet, or then merboys' voices didn't break.

Recovering from the shock of Yuugi's angelic voice, Sugoroku gave another small chuckle, "You can call me jii-chan if you'd like, Yuugi. I don't go for any of that formal stuff. How old are you anyway, Yuugi-kun?" He waved his hand as if dismissing the whole issue.

"I'm seventeen and arigatou again jii-chan." Yuugi gave him another bow and swam backwards a bit.

"It was nothing, my boy." Sugoroku said dismissing the topic again with his hand. "I was quite worried about you, you know. They brought you in and you were bleeding pretty badly. The marine vet healed you and then they put you into this tank to rest." Yuugi wasn't sure if he understood what jii-chan was talking about, but he got the basic idea so he nodded. "You've been unconscious for three days now and I wasn't sure if you were going to wake up…" The old man got a sad look on his face and Yuugi felt bad for making him worry. "But that's over now and you're fine, right?" Jii-chan looked at Yuugi with a smile on his ancient features.

Yuugi nodded and, deciding that the man was trustworthy, asked some of his earlier unanswered questions. "What is this place?"

Sugoroku was caught off guard for a moment; he had not expected the merboy to break the short silence.

"This is Domino Aquarium. It's a place where we show all kinds of underwater creatures in tanks filled with water. We have many different kinds of fish and sharks and, why, now we even have a merboy!"

Yuugi nodded though he didn't understand why humans wanted to put animals into tanks for others to look at. Why couldn't they just go swimming and see these things for themselves?

"Why would these people want with me? Why didn't they pick another one of the merfolk to put into a tank? Why me?"

"They didn't pick you out of all the merpeople, Yuugi; the fishermen caught you by accident when they were trying to catch fish. No one even knew that mermaids existed before you came."

This made sense to Yuugi; there had never been any reports of missing or captured mermaids so it only made sense that it had never happened before now.

Before Yuugi could ask another question, he heard voices from a hallway to his right. He couldn't make out what the people were saying, but they sounded happy about something.

Sugoroku turned a panic-stricken face to his adopted grandson. "Yuugi, you have to go back underwater, these people shouldn't see that you're awake. Go back to the cave and stay there until you know for sure that the men are gone."

Yuugi was terrified, but he didn't question jii-chan and fled underwater.

Sugoroku got up and resumed his job of cleaning the floors of the pool area, all the while listening to the mens' conversation.

"I'm telling you; the mermaid will wake up in time for the Family Fun Day."

"What if it doesn't? What are we going to do then? We can't tell the public that we have a mermaid and then not show it."

Sugoroku tightened his grip on his mop. How dare they refer to Yuugi as an 'it'? Even a 'her' would be more acceptable, though not correct.

"Then we don't tell the public and make it a surprise."

"That's an excellent idea, but then we can't charge the people for seeing the mermaid."

The other man thought for a moment and then snapped his fingers. "We could make it a special prize. Say the first five families get special passes to see the mermaid and after that they'll spread the word and we make the rest pay to get in."

"Ah, that is an excellent idea! Then we don't have to inform people in advance and we can cancel in the last minute if the mermaid's not awake."

Sugoroku gasped; they were going to overwhelm Yuugi with the vast amount of people that were bound to come in and see the little merboy.

"What's up old man?"

"Ignore him; he's just a janitor."

"He is old, isn't he? We should really replace him soon… Don't want him to die on us do we?"

The two left the ground floor, chuckling and descended the stairs the underwater level. They could see into the cave from there and see if the mermaid was awake yet since the Family Fun Day was tomorrow.

Yuugi sat tightly huddled in a corner of the cave. He had his arms wrapped around his cerulean tail and he was shaking slightly. He really didn't know what those men wanted with him and he wasn't too eager to find out. Yuugi gave a shudder at what the men could do to him and hid his head into his arms.

Unbeknownst to the young merboy, two pairs of greedy eyes were upon his huddle up form. The owners of the eyes were excitedly discussing the merboy in the cave. Yuugi, of course couldn't hear them due to the glass that had him imprisoned.

"Look at it, Mack. Look long and hard, because that baby is gonna make us rich."

"I see it… It really is a beauty though, don't you think? I mean that thing looks better than my daughter—and that's saying something."

"Yeah, but its beauty will only give us more of a reason to raise the prices."

The men laughed and left chatting about the money they would be getting from showing off the beautiful merboy in the tank.

ooo

"Yami, you're cousin's here! Come on down and say 'hi'!"

Said boy groaned in annoyance; his cousin was a seven year old girl who was extremely hyper and made it her mission in life to annoy Yami to no end.

Focusing his attention back to the book he was reading, the eighteen-year-old, half-Egyptian ignored his mum's yell. Soon after there was a knock on the door and an annoyingly childish voice came through the door.

"Yami-kun, Megumi-san wants you to come and say 'hi' to me."

Yami groaned, but did it so that the black-haired girl couldn't hear him. "I'll be right there, Mel, just let me finish this chapter."

"Okay, but you better come down or Megu-san will be mad at you for ignoring me. You did promise to baby-sit me for two days."

Even after Melanie left, the annoying sing-song voice still lingered in the air.

"Why oh why did I have to agree to this?" Yami asked himself quietly as he closed his book. There was no way he could concentrate on anything now that the annoying brat was in the same house as he.

Megumi was busy chatting with her sister as her son walked down the stairs.

"Yami-kun, about time you came down." She didn't seem mad, in fact, she was smiling and looking like her birthday had come early.

"Hi Natsuko-san, how have you been?" Yami asked, bowing slightly to his aunt, cautious of his mother's ever-smiling face.

"Oh, I've been just great, Yami, in fact I was just telling Megu-chan that Daisuki just proposed to me and we're getting married next summer!"

Yami smiled at his aunt, "That's great Natsuko-san, I'm really happy for you!"

Natsuko was smiling like there was no tomorrow. "Thanks, Yami, I'm really happy too!"

Just then Daisuki walked in with Melanie in tow.

"What are we smiling about in here?" Daisuki asked in his gruff voice, seeing everyone positively glowing with happiness.

"I just finished telling Megu-chan and Yami-kun that we're getting married next year." Instead of answering Daisuki just walked over to his fiancé and kissed her lightly on the lips. Then he turned his attention to Yami.

"So, Yami-kun, have you found anyone you'd like to go steady with?"

Yami shook his head; he had dated a lot of guys and girls alike, but none of them seemed to be the right one for him.

"Really? I thought Natsuko told me that you were going out with…what was his name? Bakura?"

Yami shook his head again, "We broke up a few weeks ago and now he's going out with my other friend, Ryou."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"I'm not really. I always knew that Ryou liked him and that it would never work out; he was just too protective." 'And wanted to be the dominant one…' Yami though to himself.

Yami wanted to be the dominant, protective one in a relationship. He wanted his koi to run to him and have Yami protect him form all the bad things in the world.

The main reason he and Bakura had broken up was that neither knew how to be the submissive one. They had a lot of fights about who would get to be on top or who would get to dominate a kiss. In the end they decided that it was for the best to break up.

"That's just too bad that it didn't work out with wither Bakura or Seto." Daisuki said sympathetically.

The same thing had happened with Seto. The CEO wanted to dominate everything they did and would always shower Yami with gifts and affection. Yami would have none of this since he wanted to be the one spoiling his lover with gifts and affection.

"I thought that it would've lasted with Seto; he was such a caring young man." Natsuko said.

"Yeah, he is a great guy, but he's just too affectionate. He's better off with Jounouchi."

"Is he, now?" Natsuko seemed surprised. It was no wonder, really, since last time she saw the two together they had been calling each other names and fighting the whole time.

"Oh, they make a lovely couple, imotou-chan." Megumi said. Yami had brought the two around a few times and Megumi had though that they made a great couple.

The phone rang, interrupting the family's conversation.

"I'll get it." Yami said as he walked over to the phone in the hallway. "Moshi moshi, El-Beleidy residence Yami speaking."

"_Yo, Yami, wad's up man?"_

"Hi Jou, nothing really; my aunt and her family are over."

"_Awww, dat sucks; I was hoping you could come to the arcade wit me and the rest of da gang, but I guess you cant, huh?"_

"Otherwise I could come, but I have to baby-sit my cousin since all the adults are going to a spa for the weekend."

"_Ya know, I would love to keep you company, but I really can't stand Melanie… No offence, or nothing, but she's a bit… ya know…"_

"Yeah, I do know." Yami cast a quick glance at his cousin who was busy telling Megumi about school. "Listen the others are leaving soon and I have to listen to last minute instructions so I have to go now. I'll probably call you later tonight once I put Melanie to bed, okay?"

"_Sure Yami, but call Seto's ok? I'll be spending the night there."_

Yami didn't even want to think about what the two would be doing in a huge mansion by themselves since Mokuba was at a friend's house. "I'll talk to you later, Jou, sayonara."

"_Buh bye, talk to ya later!"_ With that Yami hung up and went back into the living room.

"Yami we have to get going now." Megumi said as she spotted Yami, who gave her a nod to show he was listening.

"Remember that Melanie has to go to bed at nine and that she should have one glass of milk in the morning. Also, make sure that she brushes her teeth and washes her face and uses the toilet before going to bed." Yami nodded to every reminder that Natsuko gave him. The instructions repeated and continued for at least 15 minutes before a horn honked outside.

"Looks like dad's here." Yami said, cutting off Natsuko's list at the third 'make sure Melanie brushes her teeth'-part.

Megumi kissed Yami on the cheek while Natsuko and Daisuki did the same with Melanie.

"Take good care of her, Yami-kun." Daisuki said shaking Yami's hand.

"I will Dai-san."

Megumi was about to exit through the door when she turned back to her son.

"Yami, if you can't think of anything else to do tomorrow you can take Melanie-chan to the Aquarium since they have the Family Fun Day tomorrow."

"Okay mum. Have a great time!"

oooooooChapter 2ooooooo


	3. Family Fun Day

Disclaimer: Check the last two chapters if you don't believe that I don't own YGO.

A/N: Long chapter!

Thanks again for the reviews; they have become the highlight of my day! The third chapter is finally here and it's the one we've all been waiting for: Yami and Yuugi finally meet! Aren't you all excited? I know I am!

Anyway, please enjoy this chapter and please review to brighten up my day (especially in ITGS class. It's so boring and I hate it!)

On to chapter 3!

oooooooChapter 3ooooooo

Yuugi woke up early the next morning and it took him a while to gather all of his thoughts form the previous day. He had never left the cave after jii-chan told him to hide in there; he was too scared to go out. The small merboy just hoped that jii-chan wouldn't be mad at him for never going back to see him.

Taking a deep breath, Yuugi started swimming to the place he had last seen jii-chan. While swimming, the tri-colour haired boy was glad to note that his tail wasn't hurting as badly anymore.

Yuugi surfaced and immediately saw jii-chan scrubbing away at the pool's floor. Deciding that he didn't want to disturb the old man, the merboy looked around properly for the first time.

He noticed that there were stands rising above the main pool area and they went all around the pool. Yuugi stared at them and recalled the amp theatre the merfolk had on the ocean bed that was used for different shows and plays during festivals and other important occasions.

Yuugi wondered if the humans used this pool as a show place and what kinds of shows they had in the pool.

Sugoroku turned around as he sensed a presence in the pool area. He smiled at his newly adopted grandson as the young boy looked around in awe.

"Enjoying the view?" the old janitor chuckled.

Yuugi turned around and flashed his jii-chan one of his most beautiful smiles. "Do you use this place to hold shows during special occasions?"

Sugoroku frowned; he had not realised that Yuugi was put into the show-pool. The director usually had dolphins performing in this pool and he really didn't want his grandson to be involved in any sort of show. There was no way the merboy could take the pressure of performing in public.

"Are you ok, jii-chan? Did I do something wrong?" Yuugi's eyes were shimmering with unshed tears as he thought that he had offended the old man.

Sugoroku snapped out of his thoughts and smiled at Yuugi. "You did nothing wrong, my boy. I was just thinking; that is all."

"Oh," Yuugi hesitated for a while before asking, "What were you thinking about, jii-chan?"

"That isn't important right now, Yuugi." The Sugoroku got a serious look on his face and decided to inform the merboy that he might get visitors today—lots of visitors.

"Yuugi," He started with a heavy heart; he really didn't want to do this, but it would help Yuugi to be prepared for the unwanted visitors. "There will be people in here today and they all want to see you. I'm not sure how many there will be, but I'm betting that there will be many…"

"What will the people be doing? Can they really just barge into your home and demand to have a look at me?"

Sugoroku gave a slight chuckle; this kid sure didn't know much about humans. "Yuugi, this is not my home; this is a public place that anyone can come into as long as they pay money at the front entrance."

Yuugi blushed and looked at the water's surface. "Right, this is an aquarium... I sort of forgot…" He blushed even more and fiddled with his hands. "So I guess the people have a right to come and ogle at me, huh?" Yuugi pretended to take the matter lightly, but the old man was not fooled for even one second. He could see that Yuugi was extremely shy and would probably have a nervous breakdown if he were put in front of a large group of people.

"Yuugi, my boy, I'm sure that if you just stay in the cave you'll be fine. No one will bother you too much, since the cave is dark and hard to see into, unless they're standing in just the right spot."

The tri-colour haired boy nodded, feeling a bit better about the humans that wanted to see him. What Yuugi still didn't understand, though was why they would want to see him; he was nothing special and he couldn't do anything out of the ordinary.

ooo

Yami was rudely awoken the next morning by his hyper-active cousin.

"Yami-kun, get up it's already seven o'clock and I want to go to Domino Aquarium now!"

Yami groaned and rolled onto his side, facing away from the door and Melanie. "Just give me a few more minutes, Mel…"

Melanie ran up and started jumping on Yami's bed. "No way, Yami! Remember what happened last time I let you sleep 'just a few more minutes'? You slept until noon and I was _bored_!"

Yami groaned again as his body shook form all the jumping the small girl was doing. Now that he was already awake, why not just get up and stuff a sock into the girl's big mouth?

"Fine, I'm up, I'm up." The tri-colour haired boy sat up in bed and stretched his arms over his head, giving an enormous yawn at the same time. (Who ever told you that he couldn't do two things at once in the early hours of morning?)

After making a quick breakfast for Melanie and himself, Yami grabbed his car keys and started driving to the Aquarium. Melanie was in the back reading a brochure of the Family Fun Day that Yami's mum had given her.

"Yami-kun," The small girl said from the backseat.

"Hai, Mel-chan." Yami answered stopping at some red lights.

"This thing says that the aquarium doesn't open until ten today." The lights turned green and Yami continued driving. "Won't we be a bit too early?"

Yami frowned and looked at the clock on his dashboard. It was only 9.15 and they would be at Domino Aquarium in less than ten minutes.

"We'll be a bit early, but I'm sure we can find something to do until the aquarium opens."

The cousins spent part of the extra time going over all the things that they—or, actually, what Melanie—wanted to do once the gates opened all the while listening to Melanie's Disney CD.

Five to ten, another car drove to the parking lot and Melanie rushed Yami into line, wanting to be the first kid inside.

At exactly ten o'clock, the guards opened the gates to the now-long line of waiting families.

Yami stepped up to the register and paid for his and Melanie's tickets. The cashier marked the tickets with a blue dot and handed them to Yami. Frowning at the dot, Yami took the offered slips of paper and thanked the lady behind the register.

ooo

Yuugi was sitting on the edge of the pool, chatting happily with jii-chan when they heard the unmistakable sound of kids laughing and yelling in glee.

"What's going on, jii-chan?" The merboy asked, scared at the sudden new noise of human children.

Sugoroku frowned, "It seems that they opened up the aquarium for today. I just hope that they don't open this place up."

"Why not? Are you not done cleaning yet?"

"Now, my dear boy, they can't open this place because you're here."

"Am I not supposed to be?" Yuugi was totally clueless as to why his tank's place couldn't be opened.

"Yuugi, if they open those doors then everyone will come in here and they will all want to see you at the same time."

"Oh." Yuugi looked down, realising the drawback of opening his 'home' to the outsiders. He didn't want anyone gawking at and knocking on the tank's glass walls. Yuugi wanted privacy and if the doors opened he wouldn't be getting it.

"What should I do jii-chan? Hide in my cave?"

"I think that that would be our best option. Let's just hope that they don't let the public in." Sugoroku said the last part more to himself than to his grandson.

ooo

Melanie was already way ahead of Yami and was busy staring at the colourful tropical fish in the closest tank.

"Oooh, Yami look; the fishies are so pretty and colourful!"

"I see them, Mel." Yami look at the fish in the tank only half-seeing them. "How about we go to the Pirate's Treasure Chest; you said that you wanted to see that first?"

Melanie's eyes immediately lit up, "Yeah! Let's go, Yami-kun." Melanie took off running in the direction of the Treasure Chest and Yami followed behind at a steady pace.

"Hurry up, Yami-kun; I want to be there already!"

Yami lengthened his stride just a bit and caught up with his cousin at the Treasure Chest.

ooo

The PA got everyone's attention as it flared to life at noon, "Attention all Domino Aquarium guests! Today we have a special spectacle going on today and it is available for free for the first five families that came to the Family Fun Day. If you would all look at your tickets, the first five will see a blue dot on it. All families, whom have the blue dot on their tickets, are asked to come to the main entrance. The rest of you are welcome to see our special spectacle in an hour. Thank you for your time and please enjoy your day here at the Domino Aquarium."

Yami looked at his ticket and saw the blue dot that the cashier had drawn on it before he had entered the Aquarium.

"We have it, don't we Yami-kun?" Melanie was holding onto Yami's arm and jumping up and down like and excited super ball.

Yami smiled down at his cousin, "Hai, Mel-chan, we have it."

Melanie gave an excited squeal and started dragging Yami off to the main entrance along with another family who had been near them.

ooo

Yuugi and Sugoroku looked up, shocked as the message played through the speakers.

The young merboy turned to face his jii-chan, tilting his head cutely. "You don't think…" he started, but let the sentence drop as Sugoroku pushed him off the pool's edge and into the water.

"Better safe than sorry, Yuugi. You'd better hide in the cave and don't come out." Yuugi, heeding his grandfather's warning, turned to dive under. "Yuugi," he turned to the old man questioningly.

"Hai."

"Just… be brave, Yuugi and don't worry; everything will turn out fine."

The merboy nodded and dove under the water's surface.

ooo

"Welcome all!" A man in his late 40s stood with his arms outstretched in a forced politeness. "May we see all your tickets to make sure that all of you have the blue dot on them?"

The man and his partner, a chubby balding man, went around the families checking their tickets. They got to Yami and Melanie.

"May we see your ticket, sir?" Yami didn't even bother nodding, but showed then his and Melanie's tickets to the fat man. "Thank you, sir; we hope that you will enjoy this."

Yami just grunted in response, not liking either of the men. Melanie, on the other hand, was ecstatic. She couldn't wait to see what only five families would get to see.

The two men walked to a pair of doors at the far end of the lobby where the main entrance was located.

"If you would all kindly step this way, please." The families moved to the two managers. "Once you go in through these doors you will see—for free—the one creature that anyone would pay millions to see! Are you ready ladies and gentlemen? Behind these doors you will see a real live mermaid!" With that the two pushed open the doors to reveal a large pool that Yami recognised from a few dolphin shows that he had seen.

Melanie was tugging at Yami's sleeve and squealing about seeing a pretty little mermaid. Yami just smiled at the hyperactive girl, but he didn't believe for even one second that the mermaid in the tank was real. It was probably just some good-looking woman with a fake tail, pretending to be a mermaid.

The crowd was lead to the bottom floor where they could see under the water, but the only thing that Yami could see was a cave and some coral. No mermaid in sight.

"Where is the mermaid?" One little girl asked and the others soon echoed her question.

"Yah, where is she?" Melanie shouted at the two men who held up their hands in defence.

"Please calm down; the mermaid is very shy and I don't know when it'll be coming out from its hiding place."

"_If_ it comes out, Mack." The fat man whispered to his co-worker.

Mack whispered right back, "I already foresaw this flaw in our plan, so I was able to counter it." To the audience he said, "Please wait here while I get the mermaid from its hiding place."

That confirmed it; the mermaid-dressed woman was late and the other of the men left to go get her.

Soon, though, Yami's thoughts were proven wrong as the cave started to lift from the bottom of the tank. It rose out of the water leaving a frightened-looking boy behind. Yami started; the boy looked a lot like him. His hair was in the same spikes that seemed to defy gravity, but was missing Yami's hair's had blond streaks going into the ebony and burgundy main part.

Yami was also a lot more tanned, whereas the boy in the tank was pale and had huge violet eyes that seemed to emit innocence. Yami had often been told that he had very scary-looking eyes; they were narrow and crimson.

"Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is the mermaid that we were telling you about." Mack announced, but Yami was barely paying attention; he was too focused on the scared beauty in the pool.

ooo

Yuugi had been shocked as his sanctuary was lifted from the bottom of his new home and was even more taken aback when he saw a crowd of people staring at him. It wasn't a very large crowd, but it was enough to frighten the young boy.

Thinking fast, the merboy swam to the other side of the tank, but his efforts were in vain. The crowd was too excited to let the mermaid boy run away from them; they followed him to the other side.

All but one of the people followed.

Yuugi had no time to take a close look at the boy that had not followed him; for he was too busy running away form all the other families.

The merboy was starting to panic now; there was no place to hide and nowhere to escape to. Yuugi was trapped like a fish in a net and there was no way to save him from the prying eyes of his spectators.

Yuugi swam to the other side of the tank and turned to face the crowd, but this time they didn't follow him to the other side. They all stood and looked at a lone person to Yuugi's right. Yuugi himself turned to look at the boy that bore a striking resemblance to him.

Who was this stranger that had stopped the other humans from following the merboy?

ooo

Yami was watching the whole ordeal horrified. How could these people harass the poor boy like this? What right did they have to do something like this to the innocent and defenceless merboy?

Finally, after watching the events unfold and seeing the increasing horror on the boy's face, Yami spoke to the other families. They had been ready to take off after the boy again, but Yami called to them before they could.

"Don't you think that he's had enough?" It came out sounding a bit more pissed than Yami intended. "Don't you see that the poor boy doesn't like all this attention? And you," He turned to the two men by a control panel. "Put that cave back down, so that he has a hiding place away from prying eyes."

Yami's eyes were flashing dangerously so no one dared to defy him. The managers lowered the cave back down and Yami watched as the merboy swam into it gratefully.

Mack cleared his throat. "So that was our special show for all you luck five families. I hope that you enjoyed seeing a real live mermaid. This pool will be open to the public later on today and you can all come back and see it if you want. Now you may all go back to your previous activities."

To say the least, Yami was extremely pissed at the manager. First off, he had called the merboy an 'it'. An 'it' was an item with no feelings or mind of its own. Secondly, the boy in the tank was a mer_boy_ not a mer_maid_. There is a slight gender difference there. Thirdly, the two guys treated the merboy like scum and didn't even allow him a hiding place away from the outside world in his own home.

"Yami," Melanie as tugging at Yami's sleeve. "We should get going; the others have left already."

"We're going, Mel-chan." Yami said distractedly; he was busy giving the managers a menacing look, which they both ignored.

The rest of the day was spent doing all the other fun activities that the aquarium had to offer, but for some reason Yami couldn't get the young merboy out of his head. The adolescent shook his tri-coloured hair, forcing the thoughts of the merboy out. He wasn't too successful since five minutes later the beauty jumped back into his thoughts.

"Yami-kun," Melanie was tugging at his sleeve again. "Can we go home already? I'm tired and we've done everything here…"

Yami, pushing the thoughts of the underwater creature away for the last time, smiled at his cousin, "Of course we can leave." With that Yami started leading Melanie away from Domino Aquarium, but they didn't get too far since Melanie stopped in the main lobby.

"Yami, what are these people in line for?"

Yami looked up at the long line of people and paled a bit. "They all want to see the merboy that's in there, remember?"

Melanie's eyed the people in line warily, "Why would they want to go and see the mermaid? It's not a very pretty one…"

Yami, not wanting to shout at his cousin, dragged her away from the main lobby and out the front doors.

ooo

The next morning everyone was gathered around the dining room table eating breakfast.

"So, Melanie, how was your day with Yami-kun?" Natsuko looked at her daughter, who was stuffing her face with the food she had helped Yami prepare.

"It was great; we went to the Aquarium and I got to see a mermaid!"

The adults smiled at each other, thinking that the mermaid was just some pretty woman in a tail. If Yami had heard their thoughts he would've laughed at how similar they were to his.

"Was the mermaid very pretty, Melanie-chan?" Yami's father, Heba, asked.

"Not really, it wasn't even a girl…" This confused the older members of the family; surely a pretty female would attract more attention than a man.

"It wouldn't even stay still so that we could look at it; it was just swimming off to the other side of the tank, away from us."

Yami's grip on his fork tightened. How dare Melanie call the merboy an 'it'? She had seen him and knew that it was a male, hell; she had even said herself that the mermaid wasn't a girl.

"I'm sure that it was just a bit shy." Megumi tried comforting her niece. "Maybe next time it will be a bit braver…"

Yami stood up fast, knocking his chair to he ground. "The merboy is not an 'it'! He's a he and should be treated like any other living thing; with respect." Yami marched towards the stairs, pausing at the doorway for a last word on the subject. "And he was very pretty."

Yami spent the rest of the day in his room, not bothering to come out until Natsuko and Melanie were leaving and he came out only to say 'bye'.

ooo

A twenty minute car ride away Yuugi was once again curled up in his cave, hugging his knees to his chest for maximum comfort. He didn't even acknowledge jii-chan splashing, trying to get the merboy's attention.

Sugoroku soon gave up, knowing that Yuugi needed space, whishing he didn't. He turned off the lights leaving Yuugi to cry alone in the darkness.

"Tomorrow's Sunday, my boy," Sugoroku stopped at the door to say one last thing to the merboy though he knew that his adopted grandson couldn't hear him. The old man, however, had no other way of comforting himself. "The Aquarium's closed so that you can rest your tired body, mind and soul." He turned away from the pool. "Sleep well, my child."

The door closed with a silent click.

oooooooChapter 3ooooooo


	4. More Visits

Disclaimer: I don't own YGO!

A/N: Thanks again for all who reviewed! Thursday was Thanks Giving so I had the day off and I really should've been studying for my biology test on Friday, but instead I'm writing this.

If anyone cares 1500 yen is about $12.

Another long-ish chapter for all you peoples out there!

Please keep the reviews coming and if you haven't reviewed please feel free to do so after reading this!

oooooooChapter 4ooooooo

6.45

Yami couldn't believe that it was 6.45am on a Sunday morning and he was already up after having gone to bed late due to the guests. Yami sat on a chair by his window and looked outside at the empty streets. His dreams had been plagued by the sad, but beautiful face of the merboy form Domino Aquarium.

Why couldn't Yami stop thinking about the boy? Why did he haunt Yami when he was awake _and_ in his dreams?

Yami gave a loud sigh; he had no other choice but to see the merboy again tomorrow. It would be the perfect opportunity since he was currently searching for a house and he might as well look at the ones for sale around Domino Aquarium.

Satisfied for the time being, Yami grabbed new clothes and went to take a long cold shower.

ooo

Yuugi opened his eyes slowly, rubbing away the soreness from the big lilac orbs. After hours of crying, the adolescent merboy had finally fallen asleep in the early hours of morning.

Yuugi cautiously peeked out of his cave and fortunately didn't see any humans. He swam to the surface, hoping to catch jii-chan before the crowd came in again.

"Ohayo, jii-chan." Yuugi said, spotting the old man with his back to the pool sweeping the garbage from the floors.

Turning around Sugoroku pulled a smile on his wrinkled face, "Good morning to you, too, Yuugi. Did you sleep well?" Sugoroku saw the need to ask this, though he very well knew the answer.

"Hai."

Well he knew the _real_ answer.

"Today we both have a day off," jii-chan chose to ignore Yuugi's obvious lie, since his grandson was going to get a good night's sleep tonight. "It's a Sunday so the Aquarium is closed. That's why I'm here this late instead of at eight like normally."

The merboy took a while to process this data, but once he had it figured out he broke into a glowing grin that seemed to make the whole room warmer. "Does that mean that there won't be any humans in here to see me?"

"Well, not entirely…" Yuugi's face fell along with the temperature and atmosphere in the show room. "I'm here to see you, aren't I?"

The temperature rose again.

ooo

Ring ring, ring ring

"Moshi moshi, El-Beleidy residence Yami speaking."

"_Ah, Mr. El-Beleidy, it's Janice Warmwater from the Real Estate Agency and I just received your request of viewing houses that reside close to Domino Aquarium."_ An American accent floated from the other end of the receiver.

"Hai; I put in that request this morning," Yami's heart started racing; he might get a new house closer to the merboy. "Are there any houses available?"

"_Hai, there are three houses that meet your requirements. All three of them have two bedrooms, kitchen, living room, one large bathroom, medium sized garden and are in the right price range."_

Yami silently cheered, "Arigatou. Is there any way to go see the houses already tomorrow?"

"_Yes, the landlords are ready to have you look at the houses tomorrow. Can you be at the Aquarium at ten o'clock tomorrow morning? I'll meet you at the entrance and then show you where the houses are."_

"That sounds great, Ms. Warmwater, I'll be there tomorrow at ten o'clock sharp. Thanks for calling."

"_Arigatou Mr. El-Beleidy, I'll see you tomorrow."_

Yami could barely control his emotions as he hung up the phone. He could go to the Aquarium early tomorrow morning, see the marine teen and go check out the houses. All in a morning's work!

And maybe after house-shopping go see the merboy again.

ooo

Yami was driving towards the Aquarium the next day at eight in the morning. This was the usual time for the Aquarium to open and he wanted to be one of the first people there.

Yami stopped at the red lights and turned on the CD player. Melanie's Disney CD was still in the slot, but Yami didn't seem to notice; he was busy thinking about the merboy he had seen on Saturday.

Yami thought back to the event; he could vividly recall the merboy's every feature. The beautiful amethyst eyes that were frightened beyond belief, the smooth yet toned chest that was exposed and last, but certainly not least, the flowing cerulean tail. It was sculpted perfectly and the surface looked scaly yet smooth. The only imperfection that Yami had seen had been the scars. Where had they come from?

HONK

Yami was thrown out of his musings by the car behind him. Realising that the lights were green he shifted the gears to the first and took off flashing an apology.

The adolescent arrived at the Aquarium without any further mishaps.

As Yami walked in the first thing he noticed was the change of decoration. There were posters and signs all over the place announcing the Aquarium's rarest display animal; a mermaid.

Yami was disgusted by there posters. They said things like: 'See the world's most wondrous animal in the Dolphin Pool!' and 'Right this way guests! See a real mermaid at your very own Domino Aquarium!'

How could they treat the poor, innocent merboy like that? What had he ever done to them? And how dare they call Yami's beautiful creature an animal?

Still fuming Yami paid the lady at the register, thankful that there weren't that many people there yet. Soon, however, Yami knew that the word would spread and greedy aquarium owners from all around the globe would want to see and maybe buy the merboy.

Yami stopped dead in his tracks. _What if someone buys my merboy? What will I do then? Go after him? But what if he's shipped to America or somewhere else that far and out of my reach?_

The teen sighed; he would just have to cross that bridge if it came…_ No! I can't think like that! He will not be sold!_

Arriving at the merboy's 'home', Yami was greeted with loud, angry voices all complaining about not being able see the mermaid in the tank.

The fatter of the managers was trying to calm the screaming crowd down, saying that the mermaid was still shy and that's why the prices were so low at the moment. He assured them that the mermaid would get braver as time went on, but the people would have to be patient.

Yami snorted at the whole speech. If these people said that 1500 yen was a small price then he was sure to go bankrupt in a week if they increased the prices.

Navigating through the angry mob, Yami made his way to a spot that was facing the small cave in the pool. _The merboy must be in there,_ Yami thought. _Then again I would probably be hiding too if I were taken from home and put on display._

Yami was forced to take a small step to the right to avoid bumping into someone and that's when he saw it.

The petite merboy was curled up in his dark cave, hugging his legs—or tail as Yami latter corrected himself—to his chest. Yami looked on sadly at the nymph in front of him. It didn't look like he was crying, but the young adult guessed that the aquatic teen had no more tears left to cry.

That was how Yami spent the next hour or so of his Monday morning; string at the merboy in his miserable cave. Oh how he wished that there was some way to help the poor teen. How he just wanted to take the boy home with him and tell him—

Tell him _what_ exactly? How sorry Yami felt for him? How beautiful he was? How Yami wished for him to be back with his friends and family? How Yami didn't want him to go back, but stay for all eternity? He really had no idea what to tell the boy in the tank if he ever got to meet him.

_Well, I better get going; it's almost ten and I wouldn't want to be late for the meeting with Ms. Warmwater._

Yami was about to leave when he swore that he saw the merboy shake himself. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking, for when he took a closer look the teen was still as a statue.

Shrugging off the weird hallucination, Yami made sure to mentally mark the only spot from which the interior of the cave could be seen. With one last look at the tank Yami turned about face and aimed for the door. He never noticed a pair of lavender eyes watching his retreating back.

ooo

Yuugi had been wallowing in self misery until he felt someone watching him. He could feel that the watch was not like the ones he had felt before; this one was sorrowful and the merboy knew that this was not either of the managers or an ordinary person. This one was special.

All other eyes always looked at Yuugi with greed, desire and hunger. These eyes made Yuugi shiver and sink further into his pool of misery.

Perhaps it was ironic that Yuugi was drowning while he could breathe underwater.

Yuugi shook himself from his thoughts, but froze instantly. What if someone saw? Wait, someone _had_ seen: those eyes.

The pale teen wanted, no _needed_ to see the eyes of the one he felt so connected to. But, as luck would have it, the minute Yuugi gathered up the courage to look up from his 'knees' the person was already walking away. Yuugi felt a strong urge to swim after him, to pound on the glass of the tank and demand that the human take him away from this hellhole.

The small boy's fear, however, held him back. There was no way he was going to leave the safety of his small, but homely cave just to go after an illusion.

_Yeah, that's it, it was only an illusion. I'm in desperate need for comfort and I just imagined the person staring at me. He probably didn't even see into the cave…_

With that last miserable thought, Yuugi lie on the floor of the cave and fell into a sleep that was plagued by prodding and pointing humans. And, of course, the eyes.

ooo

Yami had been to all three of the houses and the last one seemed perfect.

The minute Yami stepped inside the small, but homely house he knew that Yuugi would love to live there.

The house was just like the merboy that seemed to follow Yami everywhere; small yet it seemed to be perfect in size, pure and perfect. Even the walls in the living room and connected kitchen matched the small teen in the dolphin pool at Domino Aquarium, as they were painted a pale, almost white, beige colour.

Yami discussed his interest in the house and Ms. Warmwater looked through all of her files.

"It seems that there are no other people interested in this house, so unless we get a client, the house is yours Mr. El-Beleidy."

"Arigatou gozamaisu, Ms. Warmwater."

Yami watched as the American woman drove off and, with one last look at his soon-to-be house, he got into his car and started the engine._ That house will be perfect for the merboy! I'm sure that he'll love it!_ Yami stopped before leaving for the main road. _Wait a minute, why do I keep thinking that the merboy could live with me? There is no way that I could buy him from the Aquarium and even if I could I don't have a tank or pool to keep him in…_

Yami sighed as he left the driveway of the house. There was no point in dreaming if there was no way for the dreams to come true.

_Why am I so attached to the boy anyway? I don't even know him…_ Yami parked the car in the parking lot of Domino's only aquarium and aimed for the main doors.

Once inside, a light bulb went on above Yami's head. 'That's it' was his only thought as he headed for the manager's office instead of the dolphin pool.

ooo

For the first time in his life Yami was happy to get out of bed at six in the morning. He showered, ate and brushed his teeth with a smile on his face.

The eighteen-year-old ran down the stairs and kissed his mother on the cheek.

"Ohayo, okaa-san and otou-san." Yami's father, Heba, nodded to his son in greeting.

Megumi smiled at her son's happiness. "Ohayo Yami-dear, may I ask why you are so happy this morning?"

"I just got a new job, which I'm sure that I'll love!"

"Really?" Heba asked with a raised eyebrow. "And what would that job be?"

Yami hesitated for a while, "Well there was a free opening at the Aquarium and I went in for an interview the day I took Melanie there."

"That's great, Yami!" Megumi said before Heba could note that Yami never answered his question. "But what are you going to do about your other job? You aren't quitting, are you?"

"No, okaa-san, I'm not. I already arranged the work hours so that they wouldn't interfere with my other job and the manager was fine with that."

"Hmmm," Heba hummed returning to his newspaper. "I've heard that the manager isn't too nice of a person. Why would he let you work less?"

Yami was putting his shoes on at this point, not wanting to be late least he get fired before he could meet the merboy personally. "I'm just going to be helping an old man with his job, since he apparently needs some help with his duties. I would love to stay and talk, but I really have to go now."

With a final bye, Yami slammed the door shut and ran to his car. Maybe he could go see the teen before he had to clean something with the old man. Yami hadn't been told where he would be working, but anywhere was fine by him—even cleaning the bathrooms—as long as it was in the same building as a certain half-fish boy.

ooo

Sugoroku Motou was worried.

He was supposed to get some help to clean out the pool area and he wasn't too fond of other people around his grandson. What if this new guy hurt Yuugi? Sugoroku knew that he would be no match against the new kid if he tried anything funny.

Sighing, the old man splashed the water around in the tank—Yuugi's cue to come up.

The little merboy heard the noise and went up to greet the bandanna-wearing old man with one of his bright smiles.

"Ohayo, jii-chan. It's a lovely day, isn't it?" Yuugi said absentmindedly, looking out of the many windows that surrounded the pool.

"I don't know, my boy." Sugoroku hated being the bearer of bad news, but it had to be done. "Today I'm getting a young man to assist me with the cleaning of this place."

Yuugi beamed, "That's great! This way you won't have to do as much!"

"No, Yuugi, this is not good." Yuugi's face fell immediately. "What if he hurts you? We don't know anything about this boy and I would hate it if something bad happened to you."

"Well you could get to know him first and see what he's like. If he's horrible then I can just stay in the cave the whole day and only talk to you when he's not here."

Sugoroku smiled at the brilliance of the simple plan. "That's perfect, but remember not to come out if he splashes the water's surface. I'll splash five times, ok?"

Yuugi nodded, but before he could say anything the door opened and a young male walked in.

"Um, hello I'm Yami and I'll be working here from today. I just dropped by to see the merboy." Yami was a bit hesitant, for he saw that this man did not like outsiders near his pool. "I hope that it's okay with you."

Sugoroku was cautious, but the fact that this 'Yami' had called Yuugi a mer_boy_ was getting him on the old man's good side. Sugoroku followed him to the lower floor and watched as Yami moved to the mentally marked spot on the floor.

_This boy must actually care; he doesn't think that Yuugi is a thing, but a person and he wanted to see Yuugi so badly that he memorized the only spot that has a view of the inside of the cave. Maybe it won't be so bad working with this boy, but I will have to keep an eye on him for a while…_

Work was almost staring so Yami thanked the old man (who had told him that his name was Sugoroku Motou) and left to meet the manager.

ooo

Sugoroku had just started his shift when the large doors opened again. He turned to greet Yami, ready to make a comment about the luck that they were working together, when he froze.

This new guy was not Yami.

Maybe he wasn't here for the job.

"I'm here for the job, you old coot."

Thank you, Lady Luck.

ooo

Yami had lied.

He didn't think it was fine to be cleaning the bathrooms even if he was in the same building as his prescious merboy.

Yami silently thanked Ra for lunch breaks.

ooo

Sugoroku sighed in irritation. The new guy didn't do any work; he just sat by the pool splashing the water's surface, hoping that Yuugi would come up.

As lunch came around he left early muttering something about a stupid mermaid.

Yuugi had lots of visitors so it wasn't safe to talk to the small boy. He sighed again, wishing that there was someone to talk to besides the broom stick.

"Is everything alright, Motou-san?" A friendly voice asked from behind the old man.

"Ah, Yami-kun," Sugoroku turned to him and patted the spot next to him in the stands. "Have a seat. How is your job coming along?"

This time it was Yami's turn to sigh. "It's not really; there's nothing exciting about cleaning the bathrooms of this place."

"I, too, am having a horrible day work-wise. I received a new assistant, who I thought would be you after you came to see me this morning. However, it turns out that the young man was just someone who is after Yuugi."

Yami perked up at this. "Who's Yuugi?" Was that the name of the lovely merboy just over ten metres below them?

Sugoroku stilled for a moment until he decided that now that the harm was done there was no way to undo it. "Yuugi is the name of the merboy…" He hesitated for a second, "I gave him that name when he came." A little white lie never hurt anyone.

"Oh, I see." Yami had no reason not to trust the old man, so he was still oblivious to Yuugi's communication abilities. "Do you mind if I call him Yuugi? It's a beautiful name and it really seems to suit his innocence."

Purple eyes smiled at the young male sitting next to him. "I thought so, too. And hai, you can call him Yuugi."

"Arigatou."

oooooooChapter 4ooooooo


	5. Meetings

Disclaimer: I would make this story into an anime if I owned YGO.

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews and sorry for the long wait. I was really busy with moving, sports, driving and (of course) school. I should really be unpacking or doing homework, but I'm slightly sick, so I felt that I had a right to take a break.

Sorry this chapter's short, but I guarantee that you'll love it (if you don't you'll get your money back)!

Please keep reviewing!

oooooooChapter 5ooooooo

Yami had been happy all week in both of his jobs. He was always eager to get his work done so that he could either leave early and go see Yuugi, or just go see Yuugi.

Another event that kept Yami happy was the fast rate that he and Sugoroku had become friends in. The two were always at the dolphin pool during their breaks, talking about random things and Yuugi. Yami didn't know why, but he had the strangest feeling that the old man was keeping something from him.

_Why would he, though?_ The adolescent asked himself as he was getting ready for his morning shift of cleaning the bathrooms at the Aquarium. _Why would he be hiding anything? Am I just getting my hopes up about him knowing something about Yuugi? What could he possibly know?_

ooo

Sugoroku Motou had gotten to work an hour early that Friday so that he would have time to talk with his grandson.

Splashing the water's surface three times had become a habit by now so the bandanna-wearing old man didn't think too much of it. As always, Yuugi obediently came up to the surface.

"Ohayo, jii-chan, daijabou?" Yuugi asked.

"Ohayo, Yuugi-kun. I'm fine and how are you?"

"I haven't really had too much exercise in the past two weeks that I've been here, but other than that I'm fine."

"That's good to hear."

"How's your assistant? And Yami?" Yuugi didn't know anything about Yami, other than what jii-chan had told him, but Yuugi still liked the human.

"The new assistant's getting lazier and lazier the whole time. I'm thinking of asking the big boss to fire him and get a new assistant."

There was some silence, but once the merboy realized that his grandfather had forgotten the other half of his question, he repeated it.

"Oh, Yami's doing fine. He seems really happy about being here…and coming to see you." Sugoroku added with a smirk. Yuugi blushed a bit, but he didn't really get what jii-chan was hinting.

The old man had noticed Yami's interest in Yuugi. He didn't know for sure why the young man was so interested, but he had his suspicions. He just hoped that Yami wasn't a good actor.

Yuugi tilted his head cutely as jii-chan had been quiet for a long time.

"Are you sure that everything is alright, jii-chan?"

"Hai, everything is just perfect, my boy."

ooo

Yami was pleasantly surprised the next day at work. The old man he was working for had told him that the managers wanted to talk to him. Not wanting to get fired, Yami had gone to their office.

oooFlashbackooo

"Ah, El-Beleidy-san, how good of you to join us on such a short notice."

What Yami wouldn't have given to be able to say: 'cut the crap and get on with it' without angering anyone.

"I'm afraid Mr. MacKenney won't be able to join us right now; he is getting rid of a rather lazy member of our staff." Yami gave him a look that relayed his earlier message. "But that's not why I called you here. I had a talk with Mack and we both decided that you need to replace the guy we're firing. Your new job is now at the dolphin pool and you will be helping the old timer there with the cleaning of the place."

Yami was ecstatic; this was perfect! He would get to work with someone he likes and be close to Yuugi at the same time! Christmas had come early!

oooEnd Flashbackooo

Splash, splash, splash, splash, splash.

"What is it jii-chan? Hasn't your assistant come yet."

Sugoroku had an unnaturally large smile on his face and it was unnerving the small adolescent.

"I have some really good news; my assistant was fired this morning and I'm getting a new one immediately. And guess who it is?"

"Who?"

"I said: 'guess', Yuugi."

"Tell me, jii-chan! It's not nice to keep me in the dark!" Yuugi pouted cutely while Sugoroku just laughed. Neither of the two heard the door open.

"Come on, Yuugi, I'm sure that you can find an answer somewhere in that fish-brain of yours." The old man laughed at his own joke.

"Jii-chan tell me! Who is it?" Despite the teasing and not knowing, the young merboy was smiling along with his grandfather.

"You can talk?!"

Yuugi's brain and body froze; there was someone else in the room. Someone else knew. He was going to be forced to perform and read jokes to a huge audience.

He was hyperventilating again. This all seemed very familiar; like his first day here. His vision was blackening and he was sinking, but like last time, he was saved…

By Yami.

Sugoroku had frozen in shock at hearing Yami enter and had been too shocked to help Yuugi get over his panic attack.

Yami held onto Yuugi's small form over the edge of the pool and spoke soothing nothings to him. The merboy was starting to calm down, but he had yet to open his lavender pools, which he had closed during his attack.

The pale boy did not want to open his eyes; he didn't want to face the reality of having another person knowing that he knew how to talk. Hell, Yuugi didn't even know who the person holding him was. He knew it wasn't jii-chan, since he had held Yuugi on numerous occasions and Yuugi recognized his touch.

_This must be the new assistant…_ Yuugi thought, knowing that his life would end if the person told anyone.

"Are you all right, Yuugi?"

Shock, at the stranger knowing his name, forced Yuugi's bright eyes open. He was about to voice his bewilderment, but sharp crimson eyes blocked his vocal chords.

"Yuugi? Can you hear me, Little One?"

Yuugi wanted to reply, but he was hypnotized by the crimson eyes.

"Yuugi? Yuugi!" Yami was starting to panic now; what was wrong with his Yuugi?

Thinking fast, Yami pulled Yuugi out of the pool and laid him on the ground. He shook Yuugi and was begging him to respond, but he never did. Or, not until Sugoroku kneeled next to him and asked him to answer.

Yuugi sat up faster than the human eye could see. This, however, was a bad move since it made his head throb and ache.

Closing his amethysts, the merboy lifted his wet hand to his forehead, groaning slightly at the pain.

"Little One?" Yami asked.

Yuugi looked at Yami's features for the first time. "I'm fine, thanks." He hesitated for a while. "Could you help me back into the pool, please?"

"Of course," Yami picked up the smaller boy bridal style, loving the fell of Yuugi's tail against his arm. He gently placed Yuugi into his home and sat at the edge of the pool, cross-legged. "Daijabou, Yuugi-kun?"

"Hai, I'm fine, arigatou for helping me."

"It was nothing Little One, I'm just glad you're ok. You really gave us a scare."

Yuugi looked at his still-pale jii-chan and bowed to both him and Yami. "Gomen nasai for scaring you."

Sugoroku spoke up for the first time since the little scene. "Don't worry about it, Yuugi. You better be thankful that Yami was here, otherwise you could've been hurt."

Yuugi looked at Yami and gave him a thankful smile. "Don't worry jii-chan; I am thankful."

ooo

The day passed by fast and without further mishaps. Sugoroku cleaned on the ground-floor, while Yami worked under.

Yami had been stealing glances at Yuugi every chance he got and made sure to keep the visitors away from the magical spot, so that they wouldn't see _his_ merboy.

Yami, however, had certain privileges that allowed him full view of Yuugi at times. He would scrub at the 'magical spot' and look into the cave. Yuugi sometimes catch him looking and wave at him. The human's heart would always start thumping loudly and he was sure that it would soon break the glass that separated him from his love.

_Wait,_ Yami halted in his cleaning. _Why am I back to this? Didn't I already tell myself that it could never be? There is no way that a human and merboy could ever be together, let alone Yuugi and me. He could never like me like that; the other merboys are probably more beautiful and he could have any of them…_

_But,_ another side of his mind reasoned, _He will never have the chance to go back. Ask yourself: if you had the chance to free him, would you?_

The half-Egyptian shook his head, but the thoughts remained there for the rest of the day.

oooooooChapter 5ooooooo


	6. Innocent Flirting

Disclaimer: I don't own YGO or the song "Under the Sea", so don't sue.

A/N: So sorry for the late update. I had a huge writer's block with this chapter and I had no access to the internet for the whole Christmas break, not to mention exams last week… Gomen nasai!

I sort of had to make Anzu/Tea nice in this fic (though I don't like her) because there is no place for an evil Anzu… Oh well.

I really hope that you enjoy this chapter! And gomen again for the lateness of this chapter! bows low

Lastly, I'd just like to inform you all that this is the third to last chapter of this story! I really hope that you like the last chapters!

oooooooChapter 6ooooooo

"_Under the sea, under the sea_

_Darling it's better, down there it's wetter_

_Take it from me!_

_Up on the shore they work all day,_

_Out in the sun they slave away…"_

Yami smiled as he was unpacking his plates. Despite it being a kid's song, he had to admit that "Under the Sea" was catchy.

Today he had finally moved into his own house; the one that reminded him of his little merboy, Yuugi. He had been packing for three days and now, on Wednesday, he started to unpack his things.

Sugoroku had given him the day off to get all of the boxes in the house and get the house furnished enough to live or at least sleep in for the night.

Marik, Malik and Anzu were working on Yami's bedroom, while the others were either in the kitchen or the living room.

Yami had invited all of his friends to help and, surprisingly, no one had had anything better to do. Even Seto had had time off from work and had come to help.

"Hey, Yami," Bakura's voice called from within a cardboard box. "Are you seeing anyone at the moment?"

In his surprise Yami almost dropped the plate he was holding. "Not really, no. Why?"

"Well," Bakura had come out form his box and was taking cups to the cupboard. "My cousin was looking for someone and I promised him that I would ask around. He's not bad looking and has a great personality. You interested?"

"Ano… I really don't know… I sort of have a person in mind, but I don't think that it could ever work out between us…"

Everyone within hearing range stopped what they were doing. The ones out of hearing range were called over.

Jou went over and turned off the radio which was playing "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from Mary Poppins.

"So, who is he?"

"Do we know him?"

"Have we ever seen him?"

"What does he look like?"

Yami was a bit overwhelmed by the questions and wondered if it was such a good idea to tell his friends about Yuugi.

"Well," Jounouchi inquired, "At least tell us his name."

Yami sighed knowing that they would never leave him alone unless he told them something.

"Okay," Everyone gathered around like little kids during show-and-tell. "His name's Yuugi."

Silence.

"Aaaand…?" Honda asked.

"And what?" the half Egyptian shot back. "You wanted his name and now you have it."

"Ooh!" Anzu clapped his hands together. "You don't want to tell us because you're afraid that we'll go after him."

Yami put his hands up in defence, "Iie, it's nothing like that! I just don't know what to tell you. He's just so…different."

"Different?" Ryou questioned. "'Different' how?"

_Well, for starters, he has a tail, can breathe underwater and he lives in an aquarium. _Of course Yami wasn't going to give his friends any of these reasons.

"He's just," Yami searched his vocabulary for the right words, but it came up short. "I really don't know how to explain it… He's just so different."

"Is he different in that he has a disability?" Bakura asked.

"Not really, no." A sigh of annoyance. "He's just so…mysterious, like the sea. And he's gentler than an ocean's breeze."

"So basically," Marik said, speaking up for the first time. "This Yuugi reminds you of the sea?"

"Hai."

"Great!" He clapped his hands together loudly. "Now all you need is a pair of flippers and diving gear and you're set to go live with the sea of your dreams."

Malik elbowed Marik in the ribs, hard.

"If only it were that simple…" Yami said quietly to himself while staring out of the window.

ooo

Yuugi was bored.

He was watching his grandfather tidy the underground floor, tapping his tail against the floor of the cave. The crowd had lessened once again, as it always did after noon. The visitors told the newcomers that the shy mermaid was still hidden away and wouldn't be coming out.

No one wanted to pay to see an empty tank.

At times like these the small merboy really wished that he was still at home in the ocean. He would be free to swim anywhere and he wouldn't have to worry about anyone seeing him. Sure he had been lonely at home since he had no friends. All the bigger merboys had picked on him because of his size and the mermaids ignored him due to his lack of popularity. Yuugi didn't have parents as they had died a few months ago, but at least he had been free.

Yuugi was brought out of his musings by a pair of footsteps. Yami's.

Making sure that the coast was clear, Yami tapped on the glass to inform the merboy that it was safe to come out.

Yuugi swam to meet his human look-alike with a genuinely happy smile.

At times like _these_ Yuugi was glad he wasn't at home.

"Finished moving in, Yami-kun?" Yami tore his eyes away from the merboy and looked at the old man who was, ironically enough, cleaning Yami's Magical Spot.

"Hai, my friends were helping me move in so we got the job done pretty fast." The adolescent's eyes had a mind of their own as they once again moved to stare at Yuugi through the glass.

"Ah, I see. In that case, are you ready to help out again? I haven't gotten too much done since I'm getting old…"

Yami grabbed one of the mops from the cleaning cart and started scrubbing the floor.

Yuugi sat on sand leaning against the glass of the tank, watching his only friends clean the dirty floor. Oh how he wished that he could join them; experience the feeling of having two legs and being able to walk on land. Of course that would never happen unless the Gods somehow, miraculously, transformed Yuugi into a human.

Suddenly there was a pair of footsteps walking down the stairs. Yami immediately gave Yuugi the sign and he retreated back into his cave.

"Motou, El-Beleidy," The chubbier of the managers said as soon as he saw the two janitors. "This is Tsunami Mako; he owns this Aquarium and a few others around Japan. He's come to see the mermaid and the visit is also doubling as a surprise inspection."

Yami and Sugoroku looked at each other then stepped up to greet the inspector.

"It's very nice to meet you, Tsunami-san." Sugoroku said, shaking the navy-haired man's hand. "I'm the janitor of this pool and this is my assistant, El-Beleidy Yami."

Yami gave the inspector a small bow as Mako nodded back.

"I see you keep this place really clean; most janitors don't take their job this seriously. I'm extremely impressed."

"Arigatou."

Mako turned to the manager, "Takahari-san, you promised to show me the mermaid and I don't see her anywhere."

"Oh, of course! I'll show it to you right away; I just need to go to the control panel. I'll be right back."

"Take your time, I'm in no hurry."

Soon the whirring of machines could be heard throughout the pool. Yami clenched his fists, knowing what the bald man was up to.

"Oh Neptune, what have you created?" Yami turned to the tank and noticed that Yuugi's cave was once again off of the sandy floor. This time, however, it had been raised to about halfway out.

Realising this, the frightened merboy swam up and hid in his cave.

Mako was amazed, but refused to let Takahari lift the cave higher. Instead, he told the chubby manager to lower it back and give the merboy a chance to hide from prying eyes.

"Any time we take animals from their natural habitats and put them into cages or tanks, we need to make sure that they can make a new home in the tank. Animals don't need to be in the wild in order to be happy; they can be happy in a tank or cage if they have food, shelter and get exercise." Mako went on to explain the importance of shelter to animals, but Yami tuned him out.

Discreetly, he moved to his spot and looked into the cave. Yuugi looked up at him, giving him a smile and waving at him.

Yuugi was ok.

ooo

Ring, ring. Ring, ring

Yami groaned as he rolled over to check the digital clock on his night stand. It read 5.47am. Growling at the annoying phone, Yami picked it up.

"Moshi, moshi, Yami speaking."

"Ohayo, my name is Kujaku Mai. I'm sorry to call you so early, El-Beleidy-san, but your grandfather had a minor heart-attack and was rushed to the emergency ward."

The teen's mind was _not _functioning at this time in the morning. "My grandfather died three years ago. He can't be in the hospital."

A surprised exclamation echoed from the other end of the receiver. "Oh, I'm sorry, is Motou-san not _your_ grandfather?"

"Iie."

"Then I must have dialled the wrong number. Gomen for disturbing—"

"WAIT!" Yami's brain finally caught up and he was wide awake. "Did you just say Motou-san?"

"Hai, I did; he is the elderly man who was admitted to the hospital half an hour ago."

"He's not my grandfather, but I do know him. I work with him at Domino Aquarium and he's my boyfriend's grandfather."

_Boyfriend's? What the hell is wrong with you?_

_It's six in the morning…_

_True._

"Well could you please come to the hospital and take care of a few papers and maybe call your boyfriend to tell him the bad news. I'm sure he could fill out the necessary papers."

"I don't think that's a good idea; see, he's really close to his grandfather and this would just kill him."

"I see, but could you at least come?"

By this time Yami was already getting changed into suitable clothes. "I'll be on my way."

"Arigatou and I'm really sorry about Motou-san, he's going to be fine though."

"Arigatou for informing me."

ooo

"I'm here to see Motou Sugoroku and fill out some forms."

"El-Beleidy-san, I presume?" Yami nodded at the blonde woman at the reception. "Hi, I'm Mai; we spoke on the phone earlier."

"Oh, ohayo and thanks again for informing me of Sugoroku's condition."

Mai smiled warmly at him, "It was nothing, now could you please fill out these forms and after that I can take you to see Motou-san."

"Alright, Arigatou Kujaku-san." Mai just nodded and went about her business as normal.

Yami looked around and found an unoccupied chair in the far corner of the waiting room. He sat down and started to fill out the forms.

Five minutes later he walked up to Mai and handed her the papers.

"Thank you, El-Beleidy-san. Now, if you'll follow me, I'll take you to Motou-san. A nurse already informed him that you were here and he's very eager to see you."

The two made their way to the third floor and to room 312. Mai knocked on the door and poked her head in.

"Motou-san, you have a visitor."

"Ah, excellent, please let him in."

Mai withdrew her head and opened the door for Yami to go in. The adolescent nodded his thanks and went in.

"Sugoroku-san, daijabou-ka?"

The old man was sitting up in his bed with a huge smile on his face. "I'm fine Yami-kun. Actually, I'm better than fine; some of these nurses are real babes."

The spiky-haired teen sweat dropped and took a step back. "Ano…"

"Anyway," Sugoroku continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "Thanks for coming to see me this early in the morning, Yami."

The two continued talking about different things until Yami had to go back to work.

"Tell Yuugi I said 'hi', will you. And tell him not to worry about me because we both know that he has enough on his plate at the time."

"Hai, I'll tell him. I'll be back to see you after work, ja ne."

ooo

The half-Egyptian didn't get a chance to talk to Yuugi before lunch break, but there was no time to comfort him as the managers came in with men in suits.

"El-Beleidy, would you please leave us for a while? We need to discuss a few matters with these men."

Yami placed his mop back into the cart. "Alright, I'll be wondering around the whole place. How long do you think it will take?"

"I'm not sure," Takahari said. "It may take ten minutes to half an hour or so. If you finish early wait outside until we leave."

"Yes sir."

Once outside, however, Yami stayed at the door; he wanted to know what those men were talking about. It had to have something to do with Yuugi; otherwise they would've used the office.

Yami had left the door ajar in order to hear the discussion better. There was no way he was going to miss anything that was said.

"Well, can we see it or not MacKenney-san?" An unknown voice (that Yami assumed was one of the guest's) asked.

"Of course," MacKenney. "Takahari, show them the mermaid."

For the third time in his life, the adolescent heard the sound of the cave being lifted out of the tank.

"Well, it certainly is a rare creature… I would be happy to have it in my aquarium."

Yami gasped; they were going to take Yuugi away? How could they take _his_ Yuugi away from him? How and why?

"I did mention that it is very shy, didn't I?" MacKenney asked. "But I'm sure that a man of your skill will get it to perform, because if you use it for show it'll make a ton of money."

"I'm sure it will, but I'm concerned about getting rid of the shyness. Can you think of a way Hiroshi?"

"Not at the moment, but I'm sure that I could come up with something if we _do_ buy the mermaid."

_No, please don't! He's too shy for your aquarium! Let him stay here; we don't mind having a shy merboy in a tank. Please don't take him away from me, please!_

"We'll let you discuss the matter with each other. Takahari and I will be waiting for your final decision outside."

"Jos, arigatou."

Thinking quick, the young Egyptian hid behind the booth that sold the tickets to the pool.

"I really hope that those men buy the mermaid," Mack was saying. "Its really not earning us any money and if there's no money involved, there's no point in keeping it."

"Yeah, but what if the other aquarium gets it to perform and talk and do all kinds of things that will raise money?"

"First off, Takahari, it can't talk and they can't teach it to. And secondly, it's too shy to ever be able to perform. They might force it to, but then the stupid animal rights people will be mad and sue them."

"So they can't win?"

"Iie."

ooo

Bam!

"Yami-kun, please stop hitting the wall; it hasn't done anything to you." Sugoroku said from his hospital bed. "I know you're upset about—"

"I'm way past upset!" Yami shouted rounding on the old man. "They're taking Yuugi away. No, they're taking _my_ Yuugi away! They can't take him!"

"Yami-kun please calm down. I'm sure that we'll think of something to help Yuugi."

Yami slumped into one of the hospital chairs and fisted his hair. "What can we do?"

"Have you told Yuugi yet?"

A look of guilt crossed the young man's face. "Iie; I didn't know how to tell him…"

"Well you'd better tell him before he's taken away."

Yami sprang up from his chair. "I'm taking him away tonight. I won't give them the chance to take him from me."

"What are you going to do? You can't keep him at your house…"

"I'm setting him free."

"Nani?!" The old man's eyes were plates by this point. "You're going to set him free? I thought you loved him."

"I do. That's why I have to do this." Yami walked to the door. "He won't be happy unless he's back with his friends and family and back in the ocean. I want him to be happy even if it means that I will suffer for the rest of my life."

ooo

Yami was driving towards Domino Aquarium at 11.49pm. _I really hope that I'm doing the right thing…_

Once there, Yami used his master key to get in. He had already asked Seto to disable the security cameras before hand so that there would be no signs of him being there. (Of course Seto was still waiting for an answer to why Yami wanted the cameras disabled).

Splash, splash, splash, splash, splash.

_Come on Yuugi._

Splash, splash, splash, splash, splash.

Hesitantly, the merboy swam out of his cave and looked up relived to see Yami.

"What are you doing here at this time of the night? Is jii-chan alright?"

"He's fine, but we really need to hurry; we need to get you out of this place."

"Nande?"

"They want to sell you to a different aquarium and then I won't be able to see you and they'll treat you really badly." By this time the older boy was already pulling the other out of the pool.

"Where am I going to go then?"

"I'm setting you free; you'll go back to the ocean, but we really have to hurry." Yami had the smaller boy in his arms bridal-style and he was taking Yuugi to his car.

"Why can't I stay here? I still haven't said goodbye to jii-chan and I really can't be out of the water for longer than fifteen minutes."

"Don't worry about that," Yami smirked. "I already have it covered. The tank is my old snake's terrarium and I filled it with water. You won't really be able to move, but at least you can breathe and be in water. Ah, here we go."

Yami unlocked the doors and opened one to the backseat. Sure enough, there was a rather big terrarium in the back filled over half way with a combination of water and salt.

In a matter of seconds Yuugi was in the tank and Yami was speeding off towards the ocean. One reason why the half-Egyptian wanted to do this fast was so that there would be no witnesses, but the main reason was that Yami couldn't let Yuugi go. The faster it was done, the less time Yami had to think about it.

They were finally there.

The ocean was moving gently in front of Yami's car's hood. Its movements were so smooth and calming that, for a minute, Yami forgot to hate the woman that was forcing him to part with his beloved.

Sighing heavily, Yami helped Yuugi out of the tank and into the water.

"I guess this is it, huh?" Yami said trying to keep his tone light so that Yuugi wouldn't feel too bad.

"Yeah, but I really wish it wasn't… I don't want to leave you."

"And I don't want you to go, but you have to; they would find you otherwise." The human lowered his head. "I really want you to stay with me, but we both know that it's impossible."

The merboy would've said something, but his voice caught in his throat so he was just reduced to nodding.

Taking a deep breath, Yami finally did the one thing that he had been meaning to do since the first time he had laid eyes on the small merboy in the tank at the Family Fun Day.

"Please don't hate me for this, my sweet tenshi."

Yuugi couldn't have picked a better time to look up; Yami was leaning in.

The smaller of the two was surprised that he wasn't shocked by Yami's move. Instead, he embraced it by leaning forward, though he didn't posses the courage to complete the move.

Knowing he had nothing to lose, the lightning bolt-haired male closed the small gap between the two and stole Yuugi's first kiss.

The two stayed locked like that for a while, until Yami moved in more and begged entrance to the merboy's mouth. Their tongues battled for dominance and in the end Yuugi let Yami explore at will.

All too soon lack of air parted the two and Yuugi had to lie on the sand in order to breathe in the water of his home.

Both stared at each other for a long time; Yuugi on his back in the shallow water and Yami sitting on dry land.

It was this that made the two realise what a thin, but uncrossable line separated them from each other.

ooo


	7. New Beginning

Disclaimer: I still don't own YGO or word of the day toilet paper.

A/N: This is almost like the last chapter, but I'll have an epilogue at the end so this is more like the second-to-last chapter of this fic. I'm actually really sad that it's ending… I'm so going to miss this fic and all you reviewers! T-T

This is the longest chapter most likely in this whole fic! Yay!

Well, please enjoy the almost-last chapter!

oooooooChapter 7ooooooo

"Yami would you please get off that damn couch and go do something with your life?"

"Ya know, Yami, for once Bakura's right; you can't just waste your life wishing that Yuugi was still here."

All of Yami's friends were gathered at Yami's house, trying in vain to get the Egyptian boy to have some fun.

"Yami," By this time Anzu had tears in her eyes. "It's been a week since Yuugi left. You can't just sit around and wait for him to come back because you know he never will."

"Yeah," Bakura added. "It's over and you know it. That little runt made his choice and all I have to say to him is 'good riddance'. He's an idiot for leaving you like that, but ultimately it was his choice and, for all I care, he can suffer for the rest of his life. He left you and in doing that he made one of the worst choices of his life. And you know what else?"

A sudden gasp filled the room as all of its occupants were shocked by Yami springing up like a bomb.

"Do _I_ know what else? I know perfectly well 'what else'. It's you who doesn't know, Bakura; you don't know Yuugi and you certainly don't know why he left." Yami's crimson eyes were blazing as he backed Bakura into a corner. "He had no choice, Bakura. Yuugi wasn't the one who decided to leave; it wasn't his choice." A slight pause during which Yami's eyes lost some of their fire. "It was _my_ choice."

All of Yami's rage dissolved and he was left broken again. Crimson eyes were shut and covered with the palms of two hands. "And I'll regret that choice for the rest of my life…"

Jou took pity on his friend and put a comforting arm around his shoulders. "Look, man," He really needed a bigger vocabulary for this… "You yourself told us that it could never work between you two. I'm sure that if it was meant to be then you would've known it."

A muffled 'But I did know it' was heard.

Jounouchi looked to his other friends for support. Ryou came to save the day. "What Jou's trying to say it that things like this happen all the time and the only thing that you can do is to adapt to the new situation. You can't live in a world of 'what if's, Yami; they don't exist in the past. There is no reason for you to stop living your life to the fullest."

Everyone in the room stared at Ryou with newfound respect.

"Did you memorize that speech or something?" Honda asked as he was the first to get over the shock.

The British teen blushed and suddenly noticed how very interesting his shoes were. "Well, no; I just said what came out without really thinking about it."

After a little more persuasion, Yami finally gave in and let his friends drag him to the beach.

"Ah!" Jou sighed, stretching his arms over his head. "There ain't nothing like the good ol' beach to get your mind offa something."

Seto wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and asked him to use proper English.

Meanwhile Marik and Malik were racing to see who would be first in the water. Malik won narrowly and as a prize, he got to ride across the beach on Marik's back. Yami was watching his friends run around and laugh at various things.

With a longing sigh, Yami walked away from his friends and took a seat on the sand. He really missed Yuugi and being this close to the ocean brought back memories of the little merboy. Yami felt a slight pang of jealousy as all of his friends had a special someone to spend the day with.

Absentmindedly, Yami picked up a stone and fiddled with it for a while before placing it into his pocket.

The adolescent had been so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice that Anzu had come over.

"Are you still thinking about Yuugi?" A nod. "I know what it's like, you know." Raised eyebrows. "To love someone and not have them return your feelings for one reason or another."

"Yuugi did—does—" Yami forced himself to correct his use of past tense. "Like me. I know he's still thinking of me, but he can't come to me or talk to me; I'll be too difficult and dangerous for the rest of his family."

"But eventually you'll have to learn to live with rejection. In the end I learned to deal with the fact that you're gay and that you can never like me the way I like you."

All that Anzu got for her confession was a suspicious look. "You aren't trying to get me on the rebound, are you?"

The poor girl was struggling to answer, while blushing furiously. "N-n-no, of c-course I'm not! Why would you even think that?"

Crimson eyes turned to look out to the ocean, face returning to a neutral look. "No reason; I was just wondering."

"Well don't wonder again." Now the blue-eyed brunette was a bit mad as well as flustered.

Before Yami could apologize Honda came running to the two. "Yami! Anzu! You guys have to come back; Malik found something in the water."

Confused, both adolescents got up and ran back to their original site to see what this amazing new discovery was.

Upon arriving at the neatly placed beach towels, Yami received the surprise of his life:

"Yuugi!"

There, lying naked on Ryou's beach towel, was his, Yami's, very own merboy. Though Yuugi had changed from the last time Yami had seen him; his porcelain skin was now cut and bruised all the way from his beautiful face to his legs.

Wait! Yami did a double take; yes, Yuugi the merboy had legs. He was human—or at least he looked human. That sure was something that Yami hadn't expected to find.

Snapping out of his trance, Yami wrapped his own towel around his boyfriend and ran to Seto's limousine.

"Minna, come on! We have to get him home and warmed up as soon as possible!"

Everyone got into the limo and Seto instructed the driver to take them to the nearest hospital.

"Iie, not to a hospital! Onegai, Seto-kun, let's go to my place."

Reluctantly the CEO told his driver to return to Yami's house. No one dared to question Yami's decision.

The teen, however, knew that if he took Yuugi to the hospital questions would arise as to where his family was and they would test his blood. What if they found out that Yuugi wasn't human and then took him to a laboratory for questioning? Yami couldn't bear to lose him again.

ooo

"Yami, are you sure that you don't want me to call my personal doctor to check him over? What if there's something wrong with him?" The tall brunette was worried for the boy lying lifeless in Yami's bed; they had no idea how long he had been in the water and he might have pneumonia or some other disease.

"Fine," Yami replied his eyes not leaving Yuugi's still form. "But he must not run any tests; he can only give Yuugi a check-up, nothing more."

Seto nodded and left his boyfriend's side to call the family doctor.

The group had to wait for only five minutes until the doctor arrived.

"So let me get this straight," He started looking at Yami. "You only want me to give him a check-up and not take any blood samples or anything like that."

"Hai." Yami was still staring at Yuugi.

"Alright then, I'll get to work right away."

A quarter of an hour later the doctor announced that the ex-merboy was fine.

"Of course without blood sampling, I can't be sure…"

"Excuse me, but I am not paying you to give your own opinion on these matters, doctor. You will de as we ask and if Yami doesn't want you to take Yuugi's blood, then so be it."

"Of course, Kaiba-sama, gomen nasai."

ooo

"Are you sure that you'll be alright, Yami-kun?" Ryou was asking for the millionth time in five minutes.

"Hai, I'll be fine; you don't have to worry, Ryou." Yami had finally torn his eyes away from Yuugi. The albino adolescent was about to say something else, but Yami cut him off. "And I will eat and sleep."

"Are you sure? Because I don't think that Yuugi would be too happy to see you starved when he wakes up…"

"Ryou," Bakura's strong voice broke in. "Everyone else left and we should get going, too." In a whisper he added. "Yami will be fine; he has Yuugi now."

Ryou nodded to his boyfriend. "I guess you're right, 'Kura." They wished Yami a good nigh and returned to their apartment.

The young Egyptian saw his friends to the door and made a stop in the kitchen before returning to his love's beside.

Ten pm found Yami sitting on his bed next to Yuugi fiddling with something in his hands. That something was the stone that the teen had pocketed at the beach.

Turning the stone around in his hands, Yami noticed that it had a unique shape; it looked like a dolphin. One that was bent so that it looked like it was jumping out of the water.

The dolphin-stone had a hole on its head that Yami suspected had come from a little sand in a dent that the waves had moved back and forth, making the sand bite through the stone.

Having nothing better to do, the starfish-haired teen got up and went to a drawer. He pulled out a long piece of leather and slipped it through the hole in the stone.

Yami took the newly made necklace to Yuugi and showed it to the unconscious boy. "I made this for you, Yuugi." The adolescent felt a bit stupid talking to Yuugi like this, but he wasn't going to stop now. "You can have it as soon as you wake up. I'll just leave it here on this table and you can take it when you wake up, ok?"

With a sigh of longing, Yami placed the necklace on the nightstand next to his bed.

"I'll be sleeping in the living room, which isn't far from here, so call me if you need anything. I'll be back to see you in the morning, good night, my precious Yuugi." With that he kissed Yuugi softly on the forehead and went into the living room.

ooo

Creak.

Yami sprung up from the couch and was racing towards his room. That creak had come from the floorboards! Yuugi was finally awake!

Upon reaching the room, however, the crimson-eyed teen's spirits fell. This was the second time that night that the stupid house had tricked him into thinking that Yuugi was awake.

A crestfallen Yami marched back to the couch and lay down his arms behind his head.

"This is going to be a long night…"

ooo

The next morning Yami was up before seven and making himself a fast breakfast. He then ate in his room, keeping an eye on the small boy who had yet to wake up.

At eight o'clock, Ryou showed up with an extremely tired Bakura.

"I had trouble getting him up this morning," Ryou was telling Yami and the other albino tried figuring out how the coffee machine worked. Obviously he was not very alert at the time. "'Kura, you _do_ realise that you just poured the water into the pot, right?"

"Ha wa?"

Yami raised an eyebrow at this, but Ryou just laughed it off. "That's Bakura's morning language for: 'say what?'"

The Egyptian looked at Bakura, who was still trying to figure out what Ryou had said. "Yes, I can _so_ tell that the two sentences are the same."

Chocolate eyes filled with laughter. "Eventually you get used to it, but for now I need to go help my modern-technology-retard of a boyfriend."

"Hey!" Bakura suddenly snapped out of his morning-state. "It's the morning that's doing this to me!"

"Oh yeah?" Ryou challenged. "What about our computer three weeks ago? It was broad daylight and you still couldn't fix it."

"That's because it had a virus!"

"I did not, and you know it! Just admit that you're crap with technology!"

Yami left before he was dragged into the quarrel. He knew from past happenings that there were no spectators in Bakura and Ryou's fights. Everyone got dragged in; even strangers that stopped in the streets to stare at the two.

Upon arriving at his desired location, the teen was greeted with one of the best sights ever: Yuugi was stirring.

"Ryou! Bakura!" Yami screamed over his shoulder and rushed to the former merboy's side. "Yuugi? Yuugi, wake up! Please wake up, Yuugi."

Slowly but surely two identical amethyst orbs blinked themselves open.

"Yuugi, thank Ra you're awake! I was so worried!"

"Y-Yami?" Yami was sorrowed to hear Yuugi's beautiful voice so hoarse, but knew that it would return to normal. "Where am I?"

The two albinos chose that moment to burst in, scaring the smaller boy.

"What is it?"

"What's wrong?"

Yami turned to his two friends with a smile, stroking Yuugi's arm in comfort. "Yuugi's finally awake!"

Ryou looked over Yami's shoulder and squealed in excitement. "Oh, finally!" He was ready to glop the poor boy, but Yami stopped him in time.

"Ryou, Yuugi needs to rest; I don't think that it would be a good idea to jump on him right now…"

"Plus," Bakura added. "While you might know him, he most certainly doesn't know you."

"Right," the Britt turned back to Yuugi and extended his hand out to the frightened boy. "I'm Ryou, Yami's friend and that guy over there is my boyfriend, Bakura."

Realising that Yuugi didn't know what a handshake was, Yami jumped to the rescue by pushing Ryou's hand away. "Could you two please wait out in the hall? I think that it'd be best if I talked to Yuugi first."

The innocent albino didn't suspect a thing and left with a smile. Bakura, however, left while muttering something about his coffee.

"Sorry, Yuugi, I really shouldn't have called those two in here, but I was so happy that you were awake that I didn't think."

"It's fine, Yami." The older of the two was happy to note that Yuugi's voice was back to normal. "I shouldn't have been that scared of them, besides, Ryou seemed really nice."

Yami smiled, "He is nice, Bakura on the other hand, not so much. He's ok, but not nearly as nice as Ryou, Jou or Malik." Yuugi tilted his head cutely. "They're my other friends; you'll meet them later, but for now: you hungry?"

The smaller boy's face turned red as his stomach answered for him.

"Ryou," Yami shouted towards the door. A second later the albino pocked his head in. "Would you go make Yuugi something to eat, please?"

"Sure thing, Yami. Anything in particular that you would like, Yuugi?"

"I don't think so; just make whatever you feel like making." Ryou's only response was a wink and retreat.

ooo

The whole day had passed by in a blur, Yuugi had met all of Yami's friends and they had had a great time together. At Yami's request, Yuugi had stayed in bed the whole day. Yami had been teaching him human things like the handshake any time that they were alone.

"So what are you going to teach me now, Yami-kun?" Yuugi asked from his position of leaning on against the pillows.

"Now it's so late that I'm just going to teach you how to go to sleep and continue with these things tomorrow." As a reply, Yami received the cutest pout he had ever seen. The other teen had stuck out his lower lip and was giving Yami an evil look.

The older teen just laughed it off and gave Yuugi a small kiss that took away the pout. "How about you tell me your side of the story and what happened to you after you returned to the ocean and how you ended up having two normal legs."

"I really don't see how you would call them normal…" Yuugi muttered, but Yami heard him and walked to the other side of the bed just to show how normal his legs were to him. The younger adolescent watched in awe as Yami made his short trip around the bed. "I really wish I could do that… Will you teach me how to walk tomorrow? Onegai."

"Of course I will, but we'll need our friends' help. Don't worry about them suspecting anything; we can just tell them that you haven't used your legs in a while so they're still weak. You'll learn to walk really fast; it's easy."

Yuugi was thrilled; he would learn to walk like a human!

"So are you going to tell me your story or not?"

"Sure, but I'm not really sure how I got legs…"

Yami gave him a comforting smile and a small kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry about that, we'll probably figure it out. First, though, I need to hear all you do know."

"Right after we separated I started to swim towards my old home, but I couldn't stop crying at all during the journey. It took me three days to get back home…"

oooFlashbackooo

Through his blurred vision Yuugi saw his former home, but he was not happy at all. Yuugi had no family or friends so why would anyone be interested that he had returned?

Deciding that he didn't want to be seen by anyone, Yuugi made his away to the outskirts of the city. He spent the rest of the day there and in the middle of the night he had swam to the statue that was in the middle of the city.

It was a statue of Poseidon, God of the Ocean, wielding a trident and standing tall next to his son, Triton.

Yuugi kneeled down in front of the statue and prayed.

"Oh, Poseidon mightiest of all sea gods, please answer my prayers." This was the start of all prayers in the sea. "Please return me to my love or let thy waters swallow me whole, for I cannot live without him. If I can never return to him, then bury me in the waters that I love as much as him. I leave the decision in your hands, oh mighty Poseidon, ruler of the Seven Seas, brother of Zeus, Hades and Hera, father of Triton and husband of Amphitrite. Onegai, answer my call." The last part came out in a desperate whisper.

oooEnd Flashbackooo

"…The last thing I remember is a whirlpool and then I woke up here."

Yami was staring wide-eyed at his look-a-like. "Well that was quite a story and you're right about it not really explaining how you ended up here."

"I guess we'll never know then."

"The eighth wonder of the world…"

This got Yuugi's interest. "What are the other seven?"

After Yami had explained the seven other wonders of the world (insisting that Yuugi come and visit the pyramids the next time Yami had to go see his grandparents in Egypt) both teens went to bed. The amethyst-eyed boy had suggested that they share the bed, but Yami declined.

"I'm a real cover-hog; you wouldn't sleep too much and you really need your rest. Oyasumi nasai, Yuugi-chan."

"Oyasumi, Yami-kun."

Once Yami had closed the door, the small boy looked out of his window. "Arigatou Poseidon, ruler of the Seven Seas and my saviour."

ooo

"You ready to get up, Yuugi?" Ryou asked.

Ryou, Bakura and Jounouchi had gathered at Yami's house and were eager to help Yuugi get up and walk around for the first time since they had met.

The short boy was a bit nervous, but then again, this was the first time ever that he would use him legs. Hell, this was the second day the he had legs (to his knowledge anyway).

Yuugi felt a warm and comforting hand on his arm and smiled up at his boyfriend.

"Hai, I'm ready."

Jou and Yami were pulling Yuugi up while Bakura and Ryou were on each side of their small friend. Before Yuugi knew it he was standing up straight.

Everyone smiled at him and Yuugi relaxed a bit.

_This isn't so hard…_ Yuugi thought, but as soon as he finished thinking it, his left knee buckled under his weight and he lurched sideways into Bakura.

Reflectively, Bakura hugged him around the waist to steady him.

"Domo, Bakura-san." Yuugi said with a slight blush on his face. Once again Yami came to the rescue and helped Yuugi back down.

"That went better than I expected," He told the short teen with an encouraging smile. "I'm sure that you can do it next time."

"Yeah," Jou added. "That was already a victory of sorts and now you just have to reacquaint your legs with your weight and you'll be walking again."

Everyone but Yuugi was staring at Jou like he'd grown an extra head and been announced Queen.

"What?"

"Where and when did you learn words like 'reacquaint'?" A baffled Yami asked.

"Did Seto give you word of the day toilet paper or something?" Bakura joked.

Jounouchi blushed and looked down at his shoes.

The meaner albino's face fell. "You're kidding, right? Please tell me you're kidding."

Jou's silence told Bakura all he needed to know.

ooo

That night found Yuugi walking and jumping around the house.

"This walking thing is really easy, Yami!" Yami smiled at the energetic boy from his position on the couch.

"I'm glad you like it, Yuugi. You're going to be doing it for a really long time."

Yuugi jumped onto the couch next to Yami and gave him a small kiss. "I'm really glad that I'm human now. And it was really nice of Seto-san to get me those papers."

"I'm actually surprised that he did it without us having to ask. Truth be told, the papers didn't ever occur to me…"

"Well it's a good thing that we have Seto then, right?"

"Sure is. By the way, did you see the necklace I made you?"

"I don't think so."

Yami got up and grabbed Yuugi's hand and dragged him upstairs. He picked up the necklace from the nightstand and put in into Yuugi's hand.

"I found it at the beach that we went to the other day and I just put it into my pocket without thinking."

The ex-merboy uncoiled his fisted hand and looked at the dolphin shaped necklace. In Yuugi's eyes it was perfect. It brought together two of the things that Yuugi loved most: the ocean and the dolphin pool where he met Yami and jii-chan.

Speaking of jii-chan… "Yami, the necklace is beautiful, it really is, but I just realised that jii-chan doesn't know I'm back."

The Egyptian smacked himself in the face; that was the second important thing that he had forgotten. First it was the papers and now Yuugi's jii-chan.

"I'm so sorry, Yuugi-chan, I totally forgot to tell him."

Taking pity on his boyfriend, the amethyst-eyed boy gave him a hug. "It's ok, Yami; we can call him tomorrow. That way he'll find out and I'll learn how to use the phone."

Yami smiled at Yuugi and gave him a deep kiss. "That's just what I love about you, Yuugi; you always find the silver-lining in everything."

"You make me see it, Yami."

That night the two slept curled up on Yami's bed with smiles on their faces.

oooooooChapter 7ooooooo


	8. Epilogue

Disclaimer: Throughout the course of this whole fic, I have not received the rights to own YGO.

A/N: So this is it my lovely readers and reviewers; the last chapter of 'Under the Sea'. I would like to take this time to thank all of you who have bothered to review this story. I really didn't expect it to be this popular when I first started writing. I really enjoyed reading your comments on this story and I'm really glad that you were all positive and encouraging.

I really feel the need to thank you all for sticking with this story and not giving up on me even when I took forever to update.

Thank you all for your wonderful comments and I really hope to hear from you in my future stories!

**Apology for lateness at the end of the chapter**

oooooooEpilogueooooo

"Let's see if I got this straight," Yuugi was saying staring at the phone. "First I pick up the receiver, dial jii-chan's number and put the phone to my ear, right?"

Yami nodded eagerly, happy that his boyfriend was getting the hang of modern technology. "He will be surprised when he hears it's you. Just don't forget to introduce yourself to him when he picks up."

Yuugi tilted his head cutely. "Why would I need to do that; jii-chan knows who I am."

"Firstly, jii-chan can't recognise your voice over the phone and even if he could he wouldn't believe that it's you. Secondly, I don't want to be known as the guy who's boyfriend doesn't have good manners."

The ex-merboy slapped his boyfriend's arm lightly before picking up the receiver and pressing the correctly numbered buttons.

_Beep, beep…_

Yuugi jumped as he heard the beeping from the phone. Panic-struck he looked at Yami. "What do I do now? He's not picking up and there's a beeping noise."

"Relax; he'll pick up soon." No sooner had Yami said this then Yuugi heard a 'hello' from the other end.

"Jii-chan, is that you? This is Yuugi."

"Yuugi, is that really you my boy?" Came the bewildered reply from the receiver.

"Hai, jii-chan, it's me. Yami and I were wondering if you could come over because we really need to talk to you in person."

"Of course I'll come, Yuugi! I'll be over as soon as I can."

The next thing the former merboy heard was the dial tone being in his ear. Yami heard it too and hung up for his Yuugi.

"Now we just have to wait for your jii-chan to show up."

ooo

"Jii-chan!" Yuugi rushed to the door once the bell rang and jumped into his grandfather's embrace.

Sugoroku gave an amused chuckle as he and the former merboy walked into the living room to greet Yami.

"I missed you, my boy." Jii-chan commented as he slumped down into an unoccupied armchair as Yuugi went to sit next to his boyfriend on the couch.

The older of the two boys slipped his arm around Yuugi's slim waist and pulled him closer.

"I'm sure that you have a lot of questions for us, Sugoroku, so ask away."

"I'm actually ready to listen to your story before I clear up anything that you didn't cover."

Yami laughed a bit and then he turned to the small figure in his arms. "Would you like to start with your side of the story, koi? I can fill in my half once you're done."

The next half an hour was spent with Yuugi and Yami telling the old man how Yuugi had ended up back on land and how Malik had found him at the beach.

Then Yuugi went on to talk about how Yami had taught him a bunch of things and how he was almost completely educated in the ways of the ground-life.

"Well, I'm glad that you've adjusted to this place, Yuugi."

"So am I, but there's one thing that's still bugging me…" Yuugi looked from his grandfather to his boyfriend. "What happened at the Aquarium after you took me away?"

Yami gave Sugoroku an amused look before plunging into his story. "Well since the other aquarium in America hadn't paid for you and you went missing the two guys here thought that the Americans had kidnapped you.

"They all kept blaming each other for your disappearance and finally the Americans sued Domino Aquarium. The case is still actually going on, but people have forgotten it by now since no one really saw you."

Yuugi gave Yami a bright smile. "Finally being shy pays off." The ex-merboy's face fell as he realised something. "What about your jobs?"

Sugoroku chose to answer this, for Yami was busy kissing Yuugi's hair. "Yami was no longer needed so he got fired and I just left with him since I'm well over my retiring age already." He gave an amused laugh, but went on with his explanation as soon as he saw Yuugi's worried face. "You really don't have to worry, my boy; Yami still has his old job and I really don't need one since I've officially retired."

Yuugi leaned further into Yami and gave him a breathtaking smile. "I'm really glad things worked out."

Yami started stroking Yuugi's bangs softly, pushing them out of the beautiful pools of light amethyst. "So am I, little koi, so am I."

The lone man in the armchair looked at the kawaii scene with gentle eyes, grateful that his two adoptive grandsons had found happiness.

ooo

The three spent the whole day together talking about this and that and sometimes just enjoying each others company in silence. Soon it was time for Sugoroku to leave.

"Bye jii-chan, good night."

The old man waved to the couple standing on their doorstep. "Good night Yuugi, Yami."

"We'll see you soon." Yami said as he dragged a waving Yuugi inside.

Once the door closed the small boy ran to the living room, jumped on the couch and pressed his face against the window to wave at his grandfather's retreating back.

"You really missed him, didn't you, Little One?"

After nodding and watching the bandana-headed man disappear around a corner, Yuugi turned to look at the handsome figure standing in front of him. "Why do you keep calling me 'Little One'? I'm not _that_ small."

The other teen raised a delicate eyebrow at this, while crossing his arms. "Would you prefer that I called you 'Chibi Ichi', then?"

Amethyst eyes lit up in laughter. "Yami! It's the same thing!" Somehow a pillow fight started from that little comment. It lasted until the two could no longer keep their eyes open and they fell asleep on the couch in each other's arms.

ooo

The next day was one of the hottest in Domino's history. It was well past 30°C and most people took a day off from work to go to the beach.

Yami, Yuugi, Jou, Malik and Marik were part of these people; even Kaiba had taken a day off and travelled to the beach with his friends.

"Ah," Jou leaned back onto his beach towel and took in the sun's rays. "Nothin' like a day offa work and some relaxation with good friends."

Yami gave a chuckle from under the sunshade where he was currently sitting while softly stroking a reading Yuugi's back. "Are you sure about the 'good friends' part?"

Jou opened a confused eye, but it was a millisecond too late: Malik and Marik had come over with a bucket of sea water and dumped it all over the unsuspecting male.

"Gah!" Jou jumped up while everyone else enjoyed a good laugh. "You two are such bakas! And you," he rounded on a still laughing Yami. "Ya could've stopped 'em or warned me a bit earlier!"

"G-Gomen, Jou-kun, but that was ju-ust t-too funny of a-a chance to pass u-up." The starfish-haired teen was having a hard time speaking properly.

Jou tried getting back at Malik and Marik, but his tries came up short as no one, not even his boyfriend, was moving a finger to help him.

"Yuugi," Bright amethyst eyes turned to regard fiery crimson ones. "Would you like to go for a swim?"

The former merboy's eyes lit up and he and his boyfriend raced to the water's edge.

Playfully, Yami picked up his cuter copy and carried him until the salty water was above his hips. With an evil smirk he dumped Yuugi into the cool water.

The shorter teen gave an 'eep' before the water swallowed him up. He was sure that Yami was laughing and he himself was chuckling in his head. Soon, however, the silent chuckling turned into a sharp intake of breath.

Yuugi quickly rose out of the water chocking on the salty taste in his mouth while trying to figure out why he was in pain.

The older of the two, sensing the little one's distress, picked him up again and took him back to their friends. Yami gently laid his boyfriend on his beach towel and gasped at what he saw; Yuugi was covered in cuts and bruises.

"Did the water scare you, Yami?" Yami chose to ignore Bakura as he had more pressing matters to deal with.

"What's—Oh my God! What's wrong with Yuugi?" Ryou's call alerted the two remaining couples and they all rushed over to the squirming boy.

"My God," Malik whispered. "He looks just like he did back when I found him."

Seto told everyone to gather their stuff and get back to the limo; they were going to Yami's place.

As Yami held his boyfriend in his lap he though back to Malik's reaction to seeing Yuugi. The light-blond had been right; his little merboy did look like the first time he had seen him in his human form.

oooFlashbackooo

There, lying naked on Ryou's beach towel, was his, Yami's, very own merboy. Though Yuugi had changed from the last time Yami had seen him; his porcelain skin was now cut and bruised all the way from his beautiful face to his legs.

oooEnd Flashbackooo

The group finally arrived at Yami's house and said boy rushed to his and Yuugi's shared bedroom to lay the injured boy down.

"Yami how—" Ryou hesitated for a moment, not quite sure how to phrase the question.

"What he means to ask is: what happened?" Bakura cut in and Ryou nodded, indicating that this was, in fact, his very question. It was at times like these that Yami swore that the two either shared a very special bond or could read each other's minds.

"I'm not really sure…" He trailed off, thinking back to what had happened. "I just dumped him into the waster and the next second he came up gasping for breath like he was in pain. The bruises and cuts just formed." He looked down at the sleeping teen on the bed. "Minna, could you please wait in the living room; I need to speak with Yuugi for a while."

Everyone left without a word, knowing that the two needed to figure this out.

Once everyone had settled down somewhere on one of the couches, Marik broke the silence. "There's something that Yami's not telling us and I want to know what it is."

Seto gave an exasperated sigh, "Hai, I know, but we can't force it out of him; he has to come to us when he's ready."

ooo

Back in the bedroom, Yami gently shook Yuugi awake.

"Y-Yami?" The injured boy looked up at his boyfriend with confusion. "What happened?"

"I was sort of hoping that we could figure it out between us. I have a theory, but I'm not putting any money on it."

The ex-merboy sat up. "What do you _think_ it is koi?"

Ruby eyes refused to look at the boy on the bed; instead they lowered to the ground. "What would you think if I told you that I thought the Ocean was hurting you?"

There was a long pause during which Yami dared to look up. Yuugi looked like he was mulling it over in his head.

"That could make some sense" He looked right into his boyfriend's eyes. "From what you've told me, I had cuts and bruises like these earlier and that time I was in touch with the Ocean. I might seem a little farfetched, but it could be possible." He blushed as he realised what he had said. "Gomen, that didn't really make any sense…"

The older teen smiled at his adorable lover; he was just so cute sometimes.

"Another thing," Yuugi frowned as his koi's smile faded. "Should we tell the others about your past…um…form?"

"They deserve to know." Nothing else was said between them as Yami got up to fetch his friends.

Then, for the second time in two days, Yami and Yuugi told the story of how the merboy that Yami met at the Aquarium turned into a human.

By the end of the story everyone was gapping at the two look-a-likes.

"So," Even Seto's mouth was dry. "You" He pointed at Yuugi. "Used to be a merboy?"

"Hai."

"And Yami kidnapped you, set you free and you turned into a human?"

"Hai."

"And now there's a big court case going on about you?"

"Hai."

"And you're living here?"

"Hai."

"And everyone's ok with this?"

"H—" Yuugi stopped mid-word as he realised that the question was not really directed at him.

"I was a bit shocked at first, but seeing is believing." After a pause Yami added. "At least with me it is…"

Jou ran a hand nervously through his blond locks. "I guess we'll haveta take your word for it, Yams. There were never any pictures of the merboy, but if that's the only explanation that you have for Yuugi's injuries then I'll have to believe it."

"I don't think that nay of us has a better explanation for Yuugi's sudden injuries, but I'm not willing to accept this immediately." Bakura said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Jou quickly butted in to clear up his argument. "Now, Yami, I'm not sayin' that I'll accept this immediately, but I am willing to believe you unless someone comes up with a better explanation."

Everyone nodded in agreement, though they all knew that none of them would ever fully believe the story, but to Yami and Yuugi it was enough that they tried or pretended to accept the explanation they were offered.

ooo

The court case was solved during the next week and Domino Aquarium had lost. They had to pay a huge fine and had to give up their best performing dolphins to make up for the lost business that resulted from pre-advertising.

MacKenney and Takahari were both labelled as liars and they left the town going to find a new business and new identities.

ooo

Half a year later found Yami and Yuugi at a fancy restaurant for their anniversary.

"Arigatou for tonight, Yami-koi, so far it has been nothing but magical and unforgettable." Yuugi told his boyfriend over the table.

"Yami leaned in and in a slightly seductive tone he said, "It's about to get just a bit more magical, my little merprince." The 'prince' blushed at the nickname. Throughout the past six months their friends had been insisting that Yami was pampering Yuugi like a prince, thus earning him the nickname.

"I really don't see how you could make this night any more perfect, my Pharaoh." The 'prince' needed a counter partner and who better than an Egyptian Pharaoh?

"You're right, aibou, _I_ can't make this night any better, but perhaps you can." As a reply, Yami received the cutest tilt of the head.

"How could I make this night even more special?"

Having gotten the timing perfect, a waitress arrived at the table and placed their dessert in-between them.

Yuugi, still confused, stared at Yami who remained quiet. Then the shorter adolescent looked at their cake slice and gasped.

Yami had asked the chef to write a message on their cake for his little love and it read:

_Yuugi,_

_Will you marry me?_

Tears welled up in the little one's eyes and he put a hand to his mouth, muffling the "Oh Kami-sama…"

"So?" Yami asked a little anxious to get the answer.

Yuugi looked up at him. "Of course I will! How could you ever think that I wouldn't, baka?"

Relieved, Yami got a playful smirk on his lips. "'Baka'? Is that my new pet name?"

The younger male was too busy chuckling and crying to reply. The taller version got up and went over to his aibou's side of the table. He pulled out a small velvet box from his coat pocket and slipped out a silver ring.

Before putting it on, Yami kissed Yuugi's left ring finger and wished him a happy anniversary.

oooooooEpilogueooooooo

I am so sorry for the lateness, but I was really busy and I really don't want this story to be over!

**As a proper apology**, I will post a lemon for those of you out there who want one! Please review and I promise that I will not take as much time with the lemon as I did with this chapter.

**Important:** for those of you who want the lemon, should I:

A) Post it on this site;

B) Post it on or

C) E-mail it to everyone who wants to read it?

Please tell me in a review!

**For those of you not reading the lemon:**

Thank you so much for reading this story! I really enjoyed writing it and I'm glad that you all liked it!

Thank you all so so so so so SO much!

OWARI—THE END


	9. Note

To all who don't know: the sequl/lemon is posted on this site and it's called 'Honeymoon'. Read it if you want to!

Cheers, Sea Queen


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